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MUSKETS  AND  MEDICINE 


OR 


ARMY  LIFE  IN  THE  SIXTIES 


BY 


CHARLES  BENEULYN  JOHNSON,  M.D. 


"Right  I  note,  most  mighty  souvarine. 

That  all  this  famous  antique  history, 
Of  some  th'  abundance  of  an  idle  braine 
'Will  judged  be,  and  painted  forgery." 

EDMUND  SPENSER. 


PHILADELPHIA 
F.  A  DAVIS  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS 

ENGLISH  DEPOT 
STANLEY  PHILLIPS,  LONDON 

1917 


COPYRIGHT,  1917 

BY 
F.  A.  DAVIS  COMPANY 

Copyright,  Great  Britain.     All  Rights  Reserved 


Philadelphia,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A. 

Press  of  F.  A.  Davis  Company 

1914-16  Cherry  Street 


TO    MY    COMRADES   WHO    WORE   THE    BLUE, 

AND   TO    OTHER   FRIENDS, 

SOME     OF    WHOM    WORE    THE    GRAY, 

THIS    BOOK   IS   DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 


IT  was  the  fortune  of  the  author  of  this  volume  to  live 
in  one  of  the  Great  Eras  in  the  history  of  this  Country — 
an  Era  that  brought  on  the  public  stage  an  exceptional 
number  of  Able  Statesmen,  Eminent  Soldiers,  Dis- 
tinguished Leaders — and  Abraham  Lincoln. 

It  was,  furthermore,  the  author's  fortune  to  bear  a 
humble  part  in  the  Greatest  Event  of  that  Great  Era; 
and  of  some  things  pertaining  thereto  he  ventures  to 
speak  in  the  following  pages. 

C.  B.  J. 

Champaign,  Illinois. 


(5) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — BREAKING-OUT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 11 

II. — THE  CIVIL  WAR,  SEEN  FROM  A  QUIET  NEIGHBOR- 
HOOD       17 

III. — "Six  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  MORE"  29 

IV. — FROM  CORNFIELD  TO  CAMP  39 

V. — FROM  CAMP  TO  ENEMY'S  COUNTRY  48 

VI. — IN  AND  ABOUT   MEMPHIS,   TENN.,   DURING   THE 

WINTER  OF  1862-3  54 

VII. — THE  VICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN  66 

VIIL— OUR  FIRST  BATTLE  78 

IX. — ATTACK   ON   VICKSBURG   FROM    THE   SOUTH    AND 

EAST  90 

X. — ASSAULT  AND  SIEGE  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  STRONG- 
HOLD    102 

XL — RUNNING  THE  VICKSBURG  BATTERIES  115 

XII. — PERSONNEL  OF  OUR  HOSPITAL  STAFF 123 

XIII. — EQUIPMENT,  WORK  AND  SOME  ATTACHES  OF  OUR 

REGIMENTAL  HOSPITAL  129 

XIV. — OUR  MOST  EFFICIENT  COOK  AND  How  I  UNDID 

HIM  135 

XV. — FROM  VICKSBURG  TO  NEW  ORLEANS  139 

XVI. — SOLDIERING  ON  BAYOU  TECHE  145 

XVII.— FROM  THE  TECHE  TO  TEXAS  152 

XVIII. — SOME  OF  THE  MORE  PREVALENT  DISEASES  157 

XIX. — THE  AUTHOR  BECOMES  AN  INVALID  167 

XX. — ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI  IN  1864 185 

XXI.— AUNT  TILDA  190 

CO 


Contents. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXII. — How  THE  SOLDIERS  RECEIVED  THEIR  MONEY  AND 

How  SOME  OF  THEM  GOT  RID  OF  IT 197 

XXIII.— SOME  EVENTS  IN  1864-5— POLITICS  AND  WAR 201 

XXIV.— THE  MOBILE  CAMPAIGN— 1865  212 

XXV. — FALL  OF  MOBILE  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END.  225 
XXVI. — A    CONFEDERATE   MAIL-BAG   AND   A    GLIMPSE    AT 

SOME  OF  ITS  CONTENTS  231 

XXVII. — SURRENDER  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  ARMIES 237 

XXVIII. — DISBANDING  THE  ARMIES 242 

APPENDIX  .  .  250 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


FACING  PAGE 

In  the  Trenches,  1861-5  Frontispiece 

Thomas  W.  Hynes,  D.D.,  a  Clerical  Patriot  in  the  Sixties  . .  32 

Pocahontas  Flag;  Real  "Old  Glory"  40 

General  Grant  as  he  looked  during  the  Vicksburg  Campaign.  64 

U.  S.  Army  Hospital  Steamer  "D.  A.  January"  72 

Interior  of  Hospital  Boat.  Cots  made  up  for  reception  of 

patients  72 

Captain  Wm.  M.  Colby,  130th  Illinois  Volunteers.  Mortally 

Wounded  at  Vicksburg,  May  22,  1863  104 

Major  George  W.  Kennard,  late  Commander  of  the  steamer 

"Horizon,"  which  ran  the  Vicksburg  batteries  on  the 

night  of  April  22,  1863 120 

Charles  B.  Johnson,  age  21,  Hospital  Steward,  130th  Illinois 

Infantry  Volunteers  128 

Civil  War  Hospital  Knapsacks  136 

Some  Civil  War  Missiles  136 

Hospital  Ambulance  144 

Army  Wagon  fitted  up  for  carrying  wounded  144 

Civil  War  body  louse,  or  "grayback"  (Pediculus  Vesiimenti). 

From  picture  taken  in  war  time 168 

Lieutenant-Colonel  John  B.  Reid,  130th  Illinois  Infantry 

Volunteers  184 

Aunt  Tilda 200 

Springfield  Musket,  made  in  America,  and  one  of  which  the 

author  carried  through  the  Mobile  Campaign  in  the 

Spring  of  1865  240 

Hospital  Steward's  Chevrons,  worn  by  author  in  Civil  War 

Medical  Service;  and  kind  of  Bottle  from  which  he 

dispensed  quinine  240 

Private  J.  W.  January,  who  amputated  his  own  feet 256 


(9) 


CHAPTER   I. 

BREAKING  OUT  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR. 

"There  is  a  sound  of  thunder  afar, 
Storm  in  the  South  that  darkens  the  day, 
Storm  of  battle  and  thunder  of  war — " 

— TENNYSON. 

THE  winter  of  1860-1  was  a  period  of  anxious  solici- 
tude to  the  people  of  the  Northern  States,  for  in  the 
most  literal  sense,  no  man  knew  what  an  hour  would 
bring  forth.  Just  before  Christmas  South  Carolina 
seceded  from  the  Union,  and  in  this  rash  act,  she  was 
a  little  later  followed  by  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Florida,  Louisiana  and  Texas.  In  heavy  headlines  the 
papers  announced  these  facts,  and,  in  addition,  detailed 
the  seemingly  arrogant  methods  and  inflammatory 
speeches  of  Secession  leaders. 

Although  I  was  but  seventeen  years  of  age,  these  pro- 
ceedings shocked  my  feelings;  for,  as  a  schoolboy,  I 
had  been  thrilled  by  the  story  of  the  Revolution  and  of 
the  sacrifices  made  by  our  Patriot  Fathers  tot  finally 
establish  the  Federal  Union.  Furthermore,  my  mind  had 
been  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  noble  words  of  Web- 
ster, in  which  he  pleaded  for  the  permanence  and  per- 
petuity of  that  Union.  What  I  felt,  however,  was 
doubtless  experienced  by  thousands  of  boys  north  of  the 
Ohio  River,  and  not  a  few  farther  south,  who  later 
yielded  up  their  lives  as  a  sacrifice  to  this  sentiment. 

Unfavorable  as  was  the  winter  of  1860-1  for  study,  in 
consequence  of  the  perturbed  state  of  the  country,  I 

(11) 


12  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

nevertheless  put  in  my  time  attending  our  village  school, 
and,  at  its  close,  crossed  its  threshold  for  the  last  time 
as  a  pupil. 

Our  little  village,  which  bore  the  distinction  of  having 
been  named  after  a  famed  Indian  maiden,1  watched  with 
intense  interest  the  events  of  the  day.  Our  location  was 
nearly  twenty  miles  from  the  nearest  railway  station,  and 
hither  a  mail-boy  went  one  day  with  out-going  mail-mat- 
ter, and  returned  next  day  with  letters  and  papers  for  the 
villagers. 

As  the  time  for  the  mail-boy's  arrival  approached  men 
and  boys  gathered  on  the  porch-front  of  the  postoffice, 
and,  as  patiently  as  possible,  awaited  his  coming.  Mean- 
time, many  anxious  eyes  would  watch  the  road  upon 
which  he  would  come  .with  his  much-prized  burden, 
papers  containing  the  latest  news. 

If  all  went  well,  the  much-looked- for  mail-boy  would, 
in  due  time,  come  in  sight,  and,  seeing  the  waiting  crowd, 
urge  his  already  jaded  horse  to  a  jogging  trot.  Before 
the  boy  could  have  time  to  dismount,  one  of  the  two  or 
three  daily  papers  taken  in  the  village  would  be  seized 
upon  by  someone  who  would  mount  a  box  or  barrel  and 
read  aloud  the  latest  news  to  the  anxious  listeners. 

As  the  spring  of  1861  approached  much  was  said 
about  the  critical  situation  of  Major  Anderson  at  Fort 
Moultrie;  about  the  firing  upon  the  steamship  Star  of 
the  West,  by  South  Carolinians  in  Charleston  Harbor; 
about  the  right  and  feasibility  of  coercion  by  the  Na- 
tional Government,  etc.  Finally,  when  Major  Anderson 
evacuated  Fort  Moultrie  and  occupied  Fort  Sumter,  all 
eyes  were  concentrated  on  him  and  his  gallant  little 
band  of  soldiers. 


1  Pocahontas,  Bond  County,  Illinois. 


Fort  Sumter  Falls.  13 

One  day,  near  the  middle  of  April,  the  mail-boy  came 
with  a  larger-than-usual  supply  of  papers,  and  these  in 
extra  heavy  headlines  had  the  words:  "Fort  Sumter 
Falls";  "Heroic  Defense  of  the  Garrison";  "Thirty-six 
Hours  of  Terrific  Bombardment!"  Then  followed  sev- 
eral columns  giving  details  of  the  whole  dramatic  affair, 
the  gallant  defense  of  the  noble  Commandant  and  his 
devoted  followers. 

Very  naturally,  Major  Anderson  became  the  hero  of 
the  hour,  and  the  papers  were  filled  with  eulogistic 
notices  and  full  details  of  his  individual  history.  About 
this  time  I  inquired  of  one  much  older  and  much  wiser 
than  myself,  who,  in  his  judgment,  would  lead  the  Union 
Armies  and  be  the  bright,  shining  light  of  the  war.  The 
answer  was,  "Major  Anderson,  undoubtedly." 

At  this  time  Captain  U.  S.  Grant  was  filling  a  menial 
place  in  his  father's  leather  store,  at  Galena,  111.,  doubt- 
less absolutely  ignorant  of  his  latent  military  genius,  and, 
in  his  wildest  dreams,  not  cognizant  of  the  great  career 
immediately  before  him. 

As  to  Major  Anderson,  he  was  speedily  made  a 
Brigadier-General  and  given  an  important  command  in 
Kentucky,  but  from  failing  health,  later  retired  from 
active  service,  and  soon  passed  out  of  public  notice. 

Immediately  upon  the  fall  of  Fort  Sumter,  President 
Lincoln  issued  a  call  for  seventy-five  thousand  volun- 
teers, and  I  recall  my  amazement  at  what  seemed  to  me 
the  largeness  of  this  call.  As  I  recalled  American  his- 
tory, the  reasons  for  this  state  of  mind  were  not  far  to 
seek :  The  combined  army,  French  and  American,  at  the 
Siege  of  Yorktown,  aggregated  only  sixteen  thousand. 
Yet  this  army  was  the  largest  and.  in  every  way,  the 
most  complete  of  any  immediately  under  Washington's 


Muskets  and  Medicine. 


command  during  the  whole  eight  years  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  compelled  the  surrender  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  in  ten  days'  time,  and  thus  virtually  conquered  the 
Independence  of  the  American  Colonies. 

Furthermore,  in  1847  General  Scott,  with  only  eleven 
thousand  men,  overcame  every  obstacle,  triumphantly 
entered  the  City  of  Mexico,  and  thus  ended  the  war  with 
our  Southern  neighbor. 

But  the  War  of  the  "Great  Rebellion"  had  continued 
only  a  few  months  when  Lincoln  found  urgent  need  for 
many  more  soldiers,  and  was  severely  criticised  for  not 
making  his  first  call  much  larger.  That  call,  by  the  way, 
was  for  volunteers  to  serve  three  months,  as  the  belief 
at  first  prevailed  that  the  war  would  last  only  a  short 
time,  and  conquering  the  enemy  would  be  merely  "a 
breakfast-spell,"  to  use  a  phrase  of  that  period. 

The  Free  States,  nineteen  in  number,  responded  pat- 
riotically, and  filled  their  several  quotas  with  commend- 
able promptness.  Not  so  the  fifteen  Slave  States.  Even 
Delaware,  the  smallest  and  most  northerly  of  Slave 
States,  responded  through  its  Governor  by  saying  that  : 

"There  is  no  organized  militia  in  the  State,  and  no  law 
authorizing  such  organization."  A  reply  that  indicated 
indifference,  if  not  worse. 

Through  its  Governor,  Claiborne  F.  Jackson,  Mis- 
souri, another  Slave  State,  pronounced: 

"The  call  illegal,  unconstitutional  and  revolutionary; 
its  objects  to  be  inhuman  and  diabolical,  and  would  not 
be  complied  with  by  Missouri." 

Kentucky  was  a  border  Slave  State  and  there  senti- 
ment was  divided,  nevertheless,  Governor  Magoffin  re- 
sponded to  the  President's  call  by  saying  Kentucky 
"would  furnish  no  troops  for  the  wicked  purpose  of  sub- 


At  a  Farmhouse  in  1861.  15 

duing  the  South."  Vain  words !  As  time  went  by  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  brave  Kentuckians  volunteered 
for  this  very  "wicked  purpose,"  and  many  of  these  sealed 
their  devotion  to  the  Union  of  their  fathers  by  finding 
a  grave  in  the  far  South. 

Bond  County,  111.,  the  place  of  my  nativity,  promptly 
enlisted  two  companies  in  response  to  the  call  of  Richard 
Yates,  our  noble  war  Governor.  As  I  was  but  seven- 
teen years  of  age,  and  at  that  time  the  one  male  member 
of  the  family,  I  did  not  volunteer,  but  instead  passed 
the  spring  and  summer  of  1861  peacefully  following  the 
plow. 

At  the  same  farmhouse  in  the  early  spring  were  five 
young  men  and  boys,  ranging  in  age  from  seventeen  to 
twenty-five  years,  and  certainly  a  jolly,  light-hearted, 
merry  company  of  young,  vigorous,  thoughtless  human- 
ity. Two  of  the  number,  Charley  and  "Ted,"  were 
bright,  clear-skinned,  good-natured  young  Englishmen, 
with  just  enough  brogue  in  their  speech  to  make  one 
listen  more  intently.  Charley,  the  younger  brother,  had 
black  eyes,  played  the  violin  skillfully,  was  brim  full  of 
fun  and  was  the  life,  wag  and  jolliest  member  of  a  jolly 
"bunch."  Jack,  a  third  member,  was  noted  for  good 
nature  and  dry  wit. 

Although  we  all  followed  the  plow  "from  sun-up  till 
sun-down,"  seldom  were  we  too  tired  to  assemble  on  the 
back  porch  of  evenings  after  supper,  crack  jokes,  sing 
merry  songs  and  listen  while  Charley  played  on  his  violin 
such  old-time  pieces  as  "Buffalo  Girls,"  "Fisher's 
Hornpipe,"  "Buy  a  Broom,"  "Arkansaw  Traveler,"  etc. 
Sometimes  on  these  occasions,  with  the  two  or  three 
girls  about  the  house,  a  dance  would  be  improvised  in 
the  kitchen. 


16  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

As  time  went  by  each  of  these  five  young  men  joined 
the  army,  and  a  brief  summary  of  their  subsequent  his- 
tory may  not  be  uninteresting  as  illustrative  of  war's 
fortunes. 

Charley,  the  wag,  wit  and  merriest  one,  was  killed  at 
Belmont,  Mo.,  November  7,  1861,  Grant's  first  battle, 
shot  through  the  head  with  a  musket  ball.  Jack  enlisted 
in  the  fall  of  1861,  and  about  that  time  said  to  me, 
"Well,  I  guess  it's  all  right,  kase  a  feller'l  never  die  till 
his  time  comes  anyhow."  Poor  Jack,  his  time  came  at 
Atlanta  in  the  late  summer  of  1864,  when  a  bullet  passed 
through  his  neck,  killing  him  instantly. 

A  fourth  member  of  the  farmhouse  group,  whose 
name  I  do  not  now  recall,  in  July,  1863,  at  Jackson, 
Miss.,  had  his  leg  torn  off  near  the  body  and  died  from 
shock  and  hemorrhage. 

"Ted,"  brother  to  Charley,  enlisted  at  the  first  call  in 
1861,  and  four  years  later  was  mustered  out,  much  the 
worse  for  his  experience,  physically. 

The  fifth  and  last  of  the  five  went  through  three  years 
at  the  front,  and  is  yet  alive.  Three  taken  and  two  left ! 
Truly,  war  reaps  a  terrible  harvest. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  CIVIL  WAR  SEEN  FROM  A  QUIET  NEIGHBORHOOD. 

"But  when  the  blast  of  war  blows  in  our  ears 
Then  imitate  the  tiger, 
Stiffen  the  sinews,  summon  the  blood." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

NOT  many  weeks  had  the  war  been  in  progress  when 
the  "powers  that  be"  came  to  realize  that  the  Southerners 
were  terribly  in  earnest,  that  putting  down  the  Rebellion 
was  no  child's  play,  and  that  for  its  accomplishment  there 
would  be  needed  a  large  number  of  well  trained  soldiers 
and  vast  sums  of  money. 

Congress  convened  on  July  4,  1861,  in  extra  session, 
and  in  his  message  to  that  body  President  Lincoln  rec- 
ommended that  four  hundred  thousand  men  be  enrolled 
and  that  four  hundred  million  dollars  be  appropriated  for 
war  purposes.  In  response  Congress  voted  five  hundred! 
thousand  men  and  five  hundred  million  dollars. 

But  while  the  Washington  Government  thus  came  to 
have  some  appreciation  of  the  magnitude  of  the  uprising 
in  the  South,  the  people  at  large  failed  to  do  so  till  after 
the  Battle  of  Bull  Run.  This  battle,  which  at  the  time 
seemed  so  disastrous  to  the  Union  cause,  occurred  July 
21,  1861.  Very  naturally  the  newspapers  were  filled  with 
the  details  of  this  struggle,  and  a  little  later  some  of 
them  referred  to  it  as  "Bully  Run,"  a  facetious  method 
of  speaking  of  the  panic  which  seized  the  Union  soldiers 
after  the  battle. 

But  Bull  Run  was  really  a  blessing  in  disguise,  for  it 
roused  the  North  to  a  full  appreciation  of  what  it  had  to 

(17) 


18  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

do  in  order  to  save  the  Union.  This  battle  occurred 
almost  precisely  seven  months  after  the  secession  of 
South  Carolina,  the  event  which  first  "fired  the  Southern 
heart" ;  and  during  the  whole  of  1861  it  is,  perhaps,  not 
too  much  to  say  that  in  all  that  pertains  to  preparedness, 
the  South  was  fully  that  many  months  in  advance  of  the 
North. 

In  conversation  with  a  Southern  sympathizer,  late  in 
the  summer  of  1861,  I  remember  urging  inj  excuse  for  a 
recent  Union  defeat  that  our  forces  were  greatly  out- 
numbered. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "just  as  they  always  have  been  and 
are  always  likely  to  be  in  the!  future." 

During  the  first  months  of  the  Civil  War  the  people 
of  the  West  were  greatly  interested  in  the  progress  of 
events  in  Missouri.  General  Fremont  had  command  of 
the  Department  of  Missouri  during  most  of  the  summer 
of  1861,  and  as  he  started  in  with  considerable  reputa- 
tion, the  people  naturally  believed  he  would  accomplish 
much  and  develop  into  one  of  the  great  Civil  War  lead- 
ers. But  while  it  was  not  perhaps  wholly  Fremont's 
fault,  yet  he  fell  short  of  achieving  what  was  expected. 

August  10,  1861,  was  fought  the  Battle  of  Wilson's 
Creek,  near  Springfield,  Mo.,  where  our  forces  attacked 
and  greatly  demoralized  the  enemy,  who  outnumbered  us 
three  to  one.  But  the  Union  cause  that  day  sustained 
what,  at  the  time,  seemed  an  irreparable  loss  in  the  death 
of  General  Lyon,  the  Commander.  After  General  Lyon's 
death  the  Federals  fell  back,  first  to  Springfield  and  later 
to  Rolla,  Mo.  General  Sigel,  upon  whom  the  command 
devolved,  gained  great  reputation  for  the  masterly  man- 
ner in  which  he  brought  his  little  army  from  where  it 
was  so  greatly  outnumbered,  and  in  danger  of  capture. 


General  Lyon's  Death.  19 

General  Lyon's  death  was  very  much  deplored  all  over 
the  loyal  North.  In  his  person  he  seemed  to  combine 
qualities  so  much  needed  at  that  time,  qualities  that  were 
clearly  lacking  in  certain  ones  in  high  places.  His 
energy,  sagacity  and  promptness  made  him  a  great 
favorite  in  the  West,  where  his  deeds  gave  promise  of 
a  brilliant  future,  had  his  life  been  spared.  He  first 
came  in  the  "lime-light"  May  10,  1861,  when,  as  Captain 
Lyon  of  the  Regular  Army,  he  promptly  seized  Camp 
Jackson  at  St.  Louis,  and  thus  early  saved  the  contiguous 
country  to  the  Union. 

Emboldened  by  success  at  other  points,  secession  in 
Missouri  proposed  to  make  its  nest,  so  to  speak,  at  Camp 
Jackson,  within  the  corporate  limits  of  St.  Louis ;  and  in 
this  nest,  early  in  May,  1861,  whole  broods  of  Confed- 
erate soldiers  were  going  through  the  incubation  process. 
But  the  Confederate  Commandant,  General  Frost,  who 
possessed  only  the  sagacity  of  a  fledgling,  made  a  sort  of 
May-day  merry-making  of  drilling,  and  here  came  the 
city  nabobs  in  their  coaches,  ladies  in  carriages,  others  in 
buggies,  men  on  horseback  and  hundreds  afoot. 

One  day  a  fat  lady  in  a  buggy,  unaccompanied,  drove 
leisurely  all  about  the  camp  apparently  unconcerned,  but 
from  under  "her"  bonnet  looked  the  eagle  eyes  of  Cap- 
tain Nathaniel  Lyon  of  the  United  States  Army,  who 
carefully  took  in  the  whole  situation, 

Shortly  afterwards,  a  body  of  armed  soldiers  was 
marched  out  to  Camp  Jackson,  halted  in  front  of  it, 
when  their  commander,  Captain  Lyon,  demanded  and 
promptly  received  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate 
camp  with  its  twelve  hundred  embryo  soldiers. 

This  bold  ~and  sagacious  act  caused  great  rejoicing 
throughout  the  West,  but  especially  in  such  parts  of 


20  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Illinois  as  were  tributary  to  St.  Louis.  The  newspapers 
of  the  day  were  filled  with  accounts  of  the  affair,  and 
Captain  Lyon  at  once  came  into  prominence.  But  his 
career  of  glory  was  doomed  to  be  short,  as  he  fell  pre- 
cisely three  months  later  at  Wilson's  Creek. 

Our  little  county,  as  elsewhere  stated,  furnished  two 
companies  of  three  months'  men  at  the  first  call  in  April, 
1861 ;  these,  before  their  time  had  fully  expired,  came 
home  on  furlough,  preparatory  to  entering  the  three 
years'  service  for  which  period  they  had  re-enlisted. 
Those  from  our  community  came  walking  in  from  the 
railroad  station  one  bright  June  morning,  dressed  in  their 
fresh,  new  uniforms:  Coats  of  dark  or  navy  blue,  with 
bright  brass  buttons,  pants  light  blue,  neat  caps  with  long 
visors,  and  their  blankets  of  gray  woolen,  neatly  rolled 
and  thrown  gracefully  over  their  shoulders.  Thus  seen, 
"soldiering"  looked  especially  inviting  to  me,  a  boy  not 
yet  eighteen. 

During  the  summer  of  1861  a  man  came  along  and! 
hired  out  upon  the  farm  where  I  was  working.  He 
stated  that  he  was  from  near  Springfield,  Mo.,  where  he 
had  owned  a  well-stocked  farm,  but  that  the  country 
being  overrun  by  the  contending  armies  everything  had 
been  "stripped  off,"  and  he  was  glad  to  get  away.  His 
family  had  gone  to  some  relatives  in,  Indiana,  while  he 
sought  to  earn  a  little  money  by  hard  work.  He  was  the 
first  Union  refugee  I  had  seen  up  to  that  time. 

The  Battle  of  Bull  Run  in  the  East,  and  Wilson's 
Creek  in  the  West,  were  the  principal  engagements  dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1861.  I  remember  anxiously  watch- 
ing the  papers  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  that 
year,  instinctively  hoping  to  read  of  the  Confederates 


Fall  of  Fort  Donelson.  21 

being  overwhelmed  by  our  forces.    But  my  hopes  were 
not  gratified. 

The  winter  of  1861-2  I  spent  in  a  remote  and  sparsely- 
settled  section,  seven  miles  from  a  postoffice,  where 
papers  a  week  old  were  not  considered  stale.  Not  till 
long  after  it  was  fought,  January  19,  1862,  Mill  Spring, 
General  Thomas's  first  battle,  was  I  privileged  to  read 
an  account  of  the  whole  matter.  Here  the  Confederate 
forces  were  beaten  and  put  to  flight,  General  Zollicoffer 
killed,  their  lines  penetrated  and  broken  at  Bowling 
Green. 

Even  in  this  early  period  every  neighborhood  had  one 
or  more  representatives  in  the  army,  and  during  the  win- 
ter I  remember  serving  upon  several  occasions  as  amanu- 
ensis to  some  of  my  friends,  who  were  poor  penmen, 
answering  letters  from  soldiers  at  the  front. 

Towards  night,  one  dreary,  foggy  day  in  February, 
1862,  the  boom  of  cannon  was  heard  away  off  to  the 
southwest.  Next  day  it  was  learned  that  a  great  victory 
had  been  won.  That  Fort  Donelson,  on  the  Tennessee 
River,  had  fallen.  Fifteen  thousand  Confederates  were 
reported  captured,  with  all  their  arms  and  accoutrements. 
The  cannonading  heard  proved  to  be  the  firing  of  a 
National  salute  at  St.  Louis,  more  than  forty  miles  dis- 
tant. Meeting  a  man  next  day,  who  had  seen  the  papers 
and  read  an  account  of  the  whole  affair,  I  inquired  the 
name  of  the  Union  Commander. 

The  answer  was:  "General  Grant." 

"Grant?  Grant?"  said  I.  "Never  heard  of  him.  Who 
is  he?  What's  his  rank?  Where's  he  from?" 

"Don't  know  just  who  he  is,"  was  the  reply,  "except 
that  he  is  a  Brigadier-General  and  is  from  Illinois." 


22  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

I  remember  feeling  a  shade  of  disappointment  at  the 
time  that  an  entirely  new  and  unknown  man  should  all 
at  once  come  into  such  prominence  and,  so  to  speak, 
eclipse  men  with  familiar  names. 

Fort  Donelson  surrendered  February  14,  1862,  and  it 
must  have  been  the  evening  of  February  17  that  the 
salute  was  heard.  It  is  unusual  for  cannonading  to  be 
heard  forty  miles  and  more  distant,  but  the  damp,  heavy 
atmosphere  of  the  time,  together  with  the  level  prairie, 
over  which  the  sound  wave  traversed,  had  much  to  do 
with  the  long  distance  reached. 

In  singular  contrast  to  this  experience  was  that  at 
Perry ville,  October  8,  1862,  when,  in  the  afternoon,  a 
severe  and  bloody  battle  was  fought  by  McCook's  Corps 
of  the  Army  of  the  Ohio,  two  and  one-half  miles  from 
the  headquarters  of  the  Commander,  but  he,  notwith- 
standing, failed  to  hear  the  sound  of  the  battle. 

In  an  article  on  the  Battle  of  Shiloh,  General  Buell 
expresses  surprise  that  the  Commander  of  the  army — 
General  Grant — should  unwittingly  permit  the  foe  to 
approach  with  a  large  force,  encamp  over  night  within 
one  and  one-half  miles  of  his  lines  and  next  morning 
attack  with  a  large  army !  Not  stranger  is  it,  than  that  an- 
other Commander  should  remain  quietly  at  his  headquar- 
ters for  a  whole  afternoon  in  blissful  ignorance  of  the 
fact  that  one  wing  of  his  army  was  engaged  in  perilous 
battle  but  two  and  one-half  miles  distant!  But  that  the 
latter  circumstance  happened  Buell  himself  testifies,  and 
offers  in  explanation  the  peculiar  configuration  of  the 
country  and  the  prevalence  of  a  strong  wind  from  his 
headquarters  toward  the  corps  engaged.  War,  as  well  as 
peace,  has  its  anomalies. 


General  McClellan.  23 

In  the  autumn  of  1861  the  people  began  to  be  im- 
patient with  what  was  deemed  the  needless  inactivity  of 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  under  McClellan,  and  concern- 
ing him  and  that  organization  the  phrase:  "All  quiet  on 
the  Potomac,"  first  used  as  an  expressive  indication  of 
no  demonstration  by  either  friend  or  foe  in  Virginia, 
came,  as  the  period  of  inaction  lengthened,  to  have  a 
satirical  meaning. 

McClellan,  soon  after  Bull  Run,  was  called  to  the 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  for  a  time 
seemed  very  popular  with  the  people,  and  was  soon 
familiarly  called  "Little  Mac/'  and  a  short  time  after, 
the  Napoleon  of  the  War.  But  as  the  winter  drew 
neaf  and  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  made  no  demonstra- 
tion, many  began  to  question  McClellan's  fitness  for  high 
command,  and  some  even  made  the  remark  that  he  was 
the  "biggest  man  never  to  have  done  anything  on  record." 
His  most  excellent  service  in  Western  Virginia  in  July, 
1861,  was  for  the  time  forgotten  or  ignored,  and  his 
great  ability  as  an  organizer  was  not  yet  understood. 

In  April,  1862,  in  the  West,  all  eyes  were  concentrated 
upon  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  at  Pittsburg  Landing, 
on  the  Tennessee  River.  Here,  on  April  6,  1862,  Grant 
came  near  being  overwhelmed,  and  for  a  time  passed 
under  a  shadow  of  public  distrust  as  dark  and  fore- 
boding as  the  previous  two  month's — after  the  fall  of 
Forts  Henry  and  Donelson — sunshine  of  popular  ap- 
proval and  confidence  had  been  warm  and.  cheering. 

The  6th  of  April,  1862,  made  memorable  to  me  by  the 
death  of  a  relative,  is  remembered  as  a  typical  April  day 
— now  a  cloud,  now  a  shower,  now  sunshine,  a  little 
wind,  a  little  warm  and  a  little  mud,  but  pleasant  withal 
and  full  of  the  promise  of  spring.  Little  did  we  of  the 


24  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

North  know  when  the  sun  went  down  that  quiet  Sabbath 
evening  through  what  peril  one  of  our  great  armies  had 
passed. 

In  the  same  secluded,  sparsely-settled  section,  seven 
miles  from  a  postoffice,  where  I  spent  the  winter  of 
1861-2,  I  also  spent  the  spring  and  summer  of  1862  fol- 
lowing the  plow,  contentedly  farming  and  dreaming  of 
the  college  life,  which  I  hoped  was  near  at  hand. 

About  this  time,  too,  I  first  saw  a  national  bank  note. 
The  man  who  had  several  five-  and  ten-  dollar  bills  of 
this  species  said  they  were  "legal-tenders."  Their  bright, 
crisp  appearance  and  artistic  workmanship  were  in  strik- 
ing contrast  with  the  State  bank — "wildcat" — currency,  up 
to  that  period,  the  only  paper  money  in  circulation.  This 
State  bank  money  was  of  such  uncertain  value  that  many 
of  the  old-fashioned,  but  sturdy  people,  refused  to  re- 
ceive it  in  payment  of  dues,  and  insisted  upon  having 
only  gold  and  silver.  Consequently  paper  money  natur- 
ally held  a  lower  place  in  the  public  esteem  than  hard 
money,  the  people's  name  for  gold  and  silver  coin. 

The  National  currency  soon  banished  from  circulation 
the  State  currency.  Gold  and  silver  disappeared  from 
circulation  in  1862,  and  fractional  paper  money  was 
issued  by  the  Government  of  fifty,  twenty-five,  ten,  five 
and  even  three  cents  value. 

In  the  region  where  I  was  the  daily  newspaper  was 
almost  never  seen,  and  even  a  good  weekly  but  seldom. 
However,  the  neighborhood  was  by  no  means  deprived 
of  news,  as  a  citizen,  whom  we  will  call  Jones,  amply 
supplied  the  place  of  a  local  paper.  This  man  Jones  was 
of  middle  age  and  medium  size,  of  rough-strong  build, 
had  coarse  red  hair,  never  wore  whiskers,  but  seldom 
shaved  oftener  than  once  in  a  fortnight,  hence  his  face 


A  Newspaper  Substitute.  25 

was  usually  covered  with  a  porcupine-like  growth  of  an 
uncertain  yellowish-red  hue,  often  covered  with  tobacco 
juice,  as  was  the  front  of  his  brown  domestic  shirt  that 
fastened  at  the  neck  with  a  large  horn  button,  but  left 
a  great  gaping  space  of  eight  or  ten  inches  below,  dis- 
playing his  hairy  breast.  He  wore  a  pair  of  brown  jean 
pants,  held  up  by  one,  sometimes  two,  "galluses"  made 
of  striped  bed-ticking,  and  in  anything  like  mild  weather 
had  on  neither  coat  nor  vest.  On  his  head  was  the 
remnant  of  a  coarse  wool  hat,  his  pants  invariably  short, 
failed,  when  he)  was  sitting,  to  meet  the  tops  of  his  blue 
woolen  socks  and  the  interval  thus  left  was  uncovered 
by  underwear;  on  his  feet,  summer  and  winter,  were 
coarse  brogan  shoes,  in  size  about  number  eleven.  In  the 
eyes  of  Jones  any  man  who  wore  anything  finer  than 
Kentucky  jeans  was  proud,  and  every  woman  stuck  up, 
who  of  Sundays  donned  anything  save  a  "sun"  bonnet. 
Jones  believed  he  was  just  as  good  as  anybody,  but  fear- 
ing others  would  not  think  so,  took  occasion  every  now 
and  then  to  assert  the  fact. 

He  probably  never  missed  a  meal  of  victuals  in  his 
life  on  account  of  sickness,  but  when  accosted  with  the 
usual  "Howdy  do,  Jones,"  invariably  answered,  "only 
tolible."  His  family  consisted  of  a  hearty  wife  and  some 
half-dozen  healthy  children,  but  he  never  would  concede 
their  healthy  status,  and  when  asked  regarding  their 
health  always  answered  with  some  qualified  phrase  as: 
"Purty  peart  considering,"  "all  stirring  when  I  left," 
"so's  to  be  round,"  "all  about  now,"  "only  tolible  like," 
"all  av'rige  but  the  old  woman,  she's  powerful  weak," 
"jist  middlin',"  etc.,  etc. 

But  once  seated  in  your  house  and  having  satisfactorily 
compromised  the  health  of  himself  and  family,  Jones  lost 


26  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

no  further  time,  but  at  once  began  unloading  his  latest 
batch  of  war  news. 

"Hain't  heered  'bout  the  big  fight  on  the  'Tenisy/  I 
reckon?  That  Gin'rl  that  hop'd  (helped)  the  gunboats 
take  them  air  forts  down  thar,  whar  they  ketched  so 
many  sojers — Donels'n  and  Henery,  b'lieve  they  call 
'em.  I  forgit  his  name — O  yes,  Grant.  Well,  he's  got 
'whurp'd'  (meaning  whipped)  mighty  bad,  him  and  his 
army — got  his'n  all  cut  up  and  lots  of  'em  tuck  pris'ner. 

"Some's  sayin'  they  reckon  he  must  'a'  been  in  licker  to 
git  'whurp'd'  that  away.  They  fit  two  whole  days,  and 
if  it  hadn't  ben  for  them  air  gunboats  helpin',  him  and 
his  whole  army  ben  tuck  pris'ner,  shore.  They  are  sayin' : 
'Pears  like  Grant's  awful  lucky  gittin'  hop'd  from  gun- 
boats'." 

"The  first  time  he  fit  at  a  place  called  Bell  sumthin' 
(Belmont),  they  (the  gunboats)  got  him  out,  then  they 
done  most  of  the  fightin'  at  Henery,  and  I  reckon  lots 
of  it  at  Donels'n  and  this  last  time  they  saved  his  bacon, 
shore.  Ton  my  soul,  b'lieve  the  South's  goin'  to  win, 
though." 

Not  long  after  Shiloh,  Island  No.  10,  in  the  Mis- 
sissippi, with  a  goodly  number  of  prisoners,  surrendered 
to  General  Pope.  This,  in  the  West,  was  at  the  time 
taken  as  a  sort  of  offset  to  our  failure  at  Pittsburg  Land- 
ing, or  Shiloh. 

Early  that  spring  I  remember  reading  of  the  now 
world-renowned  engagement  between  the  little  National 
Monitor  and  the  huge  Confederate  iron-clad  Merrimac. 
This  engagement  in  Hampton  Roads  revolutionized  naval 
warfare,  and  forever  did  away  with  unarmored  wooden 
vessels. 


Some  New  Terms.  27 

The  name  Monitor,  which  was  afterward  used  in  a 
generic  sense  and  applied  to  all  vessels  built  after  the 
same  general  pattern  of  the  one  which  so  successfully 
encountered  the  Merrimac,  at  first  sounded  strangely, 
but  by  and  by  became  familiar  enough. 

The  war,  among  other  things,  brought  into  general  use 
a  whole  brood  of  peculiar  and  unfamiliar  words.  The 
first  word  of  this  kind  to  attract  attention  was  secession, 
corrupted  by  many  into  secesh.  Coercion,  as  applied  to 
compelling  the  return  of  seceded  States,  was  another 
new  term.  Contraband  was  first  used  by  General  Butler 
when  referring  to  slaves  who  had  come  within  his  lines. 
This  was  an  unusually  hard  word  at  first,  but  soon  be- 
came familiar  when  whole  clouds  of  contrabands  (slaves) 
sought  freedom  under  the  protection  of  our  armies. 
Refugee  was  a  term  applied  to  such  white  people  as 
favored  the  Union  cause,  fled  from  the  South,  and 
sought  safety  and  protection  within  our  lines.  Copper- 
head was  a  term  used  to  designate  such  as  openly 
opposed  the  war  and  yet  had  their  homes  in  the  North. 
But  while  one,  who  openly  opposed  the  war,  was  called 
a  copperhead,  one  who  violently  opposed  it  was  called 
a  Secesh. 

After  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing  an  immense 
Union  army,  under  General  Halleck,  concentrated  in  that 
vicinity  for  the  advance  on  Corinth.  Pope's  forces  had 
been  ordered  thither,  and  Buell's  and  Grant's  armies 
were  there  already.  Halleck  divided  his  grand  army  of 
over  one  hundred  thousand  effective  men  into  right  and 
left  wings,  center  and  reserve,  commanded  respectively 
by  Pope,  Buell,  Thomas  and  McClernand.  Poor  Grant, 
under  a  cloud  after  Shiloh,  was  nominally  second  in 
command,  but  was  really  a  sort  of  supernumerary. 


28  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  attention  of  the  whole  country  was  concentrated 
upon  this  fine  army  as  it  slowly  besieged  Corinth  and 
attempted  to  bag  General  Beauregard.  But  one  night, 
May  30,  1862,  he  quietly  evacuated,  and  either  destroyed 
or  carried  away  everything  of  value. 

The  whole  story  was  well  told  at  the  time  by  a  cut  in 
Harper's  Weekly,  which  represented  in  one  picture  a 
huge  hand  (Halleck's  army)  closed,  all  but  the  index- 
finger,  which  was  reaching  to  seize  a  flea  (Beauregard's 
army),  at  rest  on  a  plane  surface.  Just  opposite  was 
another  picture  which  represented  the  big  index-finger 
in  contact  with  the  plane  surface,  but  the  flea  (Beaure- 
gard's army)  was  in  the  air,  having,  true  to  its  nature, 
jumped. 


CHAPTER   III. 

"Six  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  MORE." — AUTHOR 
ENLISTS. 

"Form !  Form  !  Form  !  Rifllemen ! 
Ready,  be  ready  to  meet  the  storm ! 
Rifllemen !  Rifllemen !  Riflemen  form !" 

— TENNYSON. 

ABOUT  the  1st  of  April,  1862,  the  Army  of  the  Poto- 
mac, under  General  McClellan,  began  the  Peninsular 
campaign,  slowly  approaching  from  Fortress  Monroe 
towards  Richmond.  A  month  was  consumed  in  the  Siege 
of  Yorktown;  six  weeks  passed  in  the  sickly  swamps  of 
the  Chickahominy,  after  which  McClellan  changed  his 
base  to  the  James  River,  and  then  followed  the  Seven 
Days'  Battles  near  Richmond,  namely,  Mechanicsville, 
June  26;  Games'  Mills,  June  27  and  28;  Savage's  Sta- 
tion, June  29;  Peach  Orchard,  June  29;  White  Oak 
Swamp,  June  30,  and  Malvern  Hill,  July  1.  July  2  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  retreated  to  Harrison's  Landing, 
on  the  James  River,  and  thus  had  been  accomplished  the 
"change  of  base."  This  costly  and  humiliating  repulse 
of  McClellan  was  a  sore  disappointment  to  the  North, 
but  knowing  the  Nation's  power,  the  President  issued  a 
call  in  the  last  days  of  July  for  300,000  volunteers, 
which,  a  little  later,  was  increased  to  600,000. 

Like  most  others  I  had  all  along  been  greatly  inter- 
ested in  the  war's  progress,  but  fifteen  month's,  continu- 
ance of  the  conflict  had,  in  a  degree,  removed  the  keen 
edge  of  that  interest,  and  I,  all  the  while,  consoled  myself 
with  the  idea  that  there  was  no  need  for  me  to  become 

(29) 


30  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

identified  with  the  conflict  in  any  way  personally.  The 
previous  winter  I  had  been  teaching  and  putting  in 
leisure  moments  preparing  for  college.  My  studies  I 
tried  to  prosecute,  in  a  way,  while  farming  during  the 
spring  and  early  summer  of  1862,  my  zeal  at  times  lead- 
ing me  in  hot  days,  while  my  horse  was  resting,  to  use 
the  freshly  turned-up  earth  as  a  sort  of  make-shift  board 
upon  which,  with  a  stick,  I  marked  out  for  demonstra- 
tion certain  propositions  in  geometry. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  my  dreams 
were  all  of  the  Halls  of  Learning  and  not  of  the  Temple 
of  Mars,  not  of  fields  of  strife  and  blood.  These  per- 
sonal matters  are  mentioned  because  it  is  believed  that 
many  thousands  of  young  men,  up  to  this  period,  had 
aspirations  like  my  own  and  bore  a  similar  relation  to 
the  war,  and  most  of  these  enlisted  and  thousands  of 
them  sacrificed  their  lives  on  their  country's  altar. 

One  day  early  in  August,  1862,  having  followed  the 
plow  till  noon,  I  came  in  from  the  field  to  dinner  and 
found  at  the  house  a  relative  who  had  just  arrived  with 
the  information  that  a  war  meeting  was  to  be  held  the 
next  day  at  Pocahontas,  my  home  village,  ten  miles  dis- 
tant, and  that  the  day  previous  a  war  meeting  had  been 
held  at  Greenville,  111.,  our  county  seat,  and  at  which 
many  of  my  old  friends  and  schoolmates  had  enlisted. 

Joining  the  army  is  not  unlike  measles,  whooping- 
cough  and  even  smallpox,  for  it's  catching.  Learning 
that  A.,  B.,  C.  and  D.  had  volunteered,  I  henceforth  saw 
"the  light,"  and  straightway  resolved  to  enlist  in  my 
country's  service,  much  as  it  would  mar  all  my  well-laid 
plans.  With  this  intent  uppermost  in  my  mind  I  at- 
tended the  war  meeting  at  Pocahontas,  August  9,  1862, 
which  was  held  in  the  shade  of  a  white  oak  grove. 


The  Author  Volunteers.  31 

There  was  a  good  attendance  and  much  earnestness 
manifested.  The  exercises  consisted  of  martial  music, 
singing  of  patriotic  songs  and  several  eloquent  speeches. 
One  of  the  speakers  was  a  ruddy-faced,  good-looking 
Englishman,  whose  earnestness  and  eloquent  words 
made  a  lasting  impression  on  my  mind.  He  began  by 
reading  in  a  most  impressive  manner  a  poem,  then  just 
published  and  beginning: 

"We  are  coming  Father  Abraham,  six  hundred  thousand  more, 
From  Alleghany's  rugged  heights,   from  Mississippi's  winding 
shore" — 

These  lines  are  quoted  from  memory  and  may  be  inac- 
curate, but  it  is  believed  they  are  substantially  correct. 
When  through  reading,  the  speaker  said: 

"As  most  of  you  know,  I  am  an  Englishman;  not  a 
drop  save  English  blood  courses  in  my  veins,  and  near 
to  my  heart  is  the  memory  of  dear,  merry  old  England. 
Her  green,  peaceful  fields,  her  happy  homes,  her  thrifty 
sons,  her  broad-chested,  manly  men;  and  her  rosy- 
cheeked,  healthy  women;  wives,  sisters,  mothers,  sweet- 
hearts can  never,  never  be  forgotten.  But  much  as  I 
love  old  England,  and  proud  as  I  am  of  the  power  and 
fair  name  of  my  native  land,  I  am,  today,  an  American 
citizen,  and  as  such,  should  the  English  Government  see 
fit  to  intervene  and  take  up  arms  in  favor  of  the)  South, 
I  will  shoulder  my  musket  and  fight  against  her  as  long 
as  there  is  breath  in  my  body." 

The  impassioned  address  of  the  eloquent  Englishman 
was  intently  listened  to  and  heartily  cheered  by  the  audi- 
ence. 

Amid  these  surroundings  and  under  these  patriotic 
influences  I  gave  my  name  to  an  enrolling  officer,  and 


32  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

for  three  years  thereafter  saw  service  in  the  Union 
Army — service  that,  though  humble,  did  not  end  till  the 
last  enemy  had  surrendered  and  our  National  Flag  was 
permitted  to  float  in  peace  over  every  foot  of  the  late 
eleven  Seceded  States — eleven  Seceded  States  that  com- 
prised the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  whose  people  had 
desperately  striven  to  take  eleven  Stars  from  the  Flag 
of  our  common  Country,  and  with  them  form  the  "Stars 
and  Bars,"  the  emblem  of  a  proposed  new  government, 
whose  chief  corner-stone  was  avowed  to  be  human 
slavery,  but 

"Though  the  mills  of  God  grind  slowly,  yet  they  grind  exceed- 
ing small, 

Though  with  patience  He  stands  waiting,  with  exactness  He 
grinds  all." 

At  this  period  the  war  had  been  in  progress  a  little  less 
than  sixteen  months,  and  regarding  the  propriety  and 
justness  of  the  conflict,  there  were  three  classes,  and  of 
these  the  first  included  all  members  of  the  Republican 
Party  who  had  elected  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  Presi- 
dency, and  who,  to  a  man,  favored  a  vigorous  prosecu- 
tion of  the  war. 

A  second  class  was  vacillating,  now  favoring  the  war 
and  now  hesitating,  if  not,  indeed,  objecting  to  its  fur- 
ther prosecution. 

A  third  class  opposed  President  Lincoln  in  every  move 
he  made,  and  became  so  bitter  and  so  obnoxious  that  they 
were  not  inaptly  called  "Copperheads,"  the  name  of  a 
certain  snake  whose  bite  was  especially  poisonous,  and 
whose  method  of  attack  was  cowardly  and  vicious. 

As  time  went  by,  the  party  favoring  a  vigorous  prose- 
cution of  the  war  received  a  very  large  accession  from 


Thomas  W.  Hynes,  D.D.,  a  Clerical  Patriot  in  the  Sixties 
and  later  Bond  County's    (111.)    Grand  Old  Man. 

(See  page  34) 


A  Clerical  Patriot.  33 

certain  patriotic  men  who  came  to  be  known  as  "War- 
Democrats,"  a  hyphenated  term  that  was  especially  pop- 
ular with  Union  men  in  the  early  sixties. 

As  to  the  final  outcome,  a  few  people  seemed,  from 
the  beginning,  to  have  implicit  faith  in  ultimate  triumph, 
but  the  great  majority  were  submerged  in  a  sea  of  doubt 
and  perplexity. 

On  July  4,  1861,  I  attended  a  Fourth  of  July  celebra- 
tion at  Greenville,  our  county  seat,  and  listened  to  a 
most  eloquent  and  patriotic  address  from  a  prominent 
clergyman.  Very  naturally  the  theme  of  the  speaker  was 
the  war,  upon  which  the  country  was  just  entering.  He 
handled  his  subject  in  a  masterly  manner,  and  I  shall 
never  forget  his  closing  words:  "Crowned  with  a  halo 
of  glory,  the  Nation  reunited  will  finally  come  out  of 
this  fiery  ordeal,  grander,  nobler,  stronger  than  ever 
before." 

These  words  were,  so  to  speak,  burned  into  my 
memory,  for  they  were  wonderfully  impressive  and 
seemed  to  carry  with  them  great  weight  and  an  inde- 
finable sense  of  dignity  and  foreknowledge.  Yet,  in 
those  trying  days  when  every  one  was  at  sea,  and  clarity 
of  view  was  vouchsafed  to  few,  if  any,  the  prophetic 
words  of  the  reverend  speaker  seemed  all  but  impossible 
of  fulfillment.  However,  those  were  stirring  times,  and 
men's  minds  underwent  prompt  and  radical  changes. 

The  patriotic  and  manly  course  of  many  leading 
Democrats,  notably  Senator  Douglas,  in  supporting  the 
Union,  and  standing  by  President  Lincoln  in  his  efforts 
to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  National  Government, 
had  much  to  do  in  making  staunch  Unionists  of  many 
who,  up  to  that  time,  had  openly  opposed  the  course  of 


34  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

the  Administration  at  Washington,  or  hesitated  in  giving 
it  their  allegiance. 

The  eloquent  speaker  referred  to  above  was  Reverend 
Thomas  W.  Hynes,  of  Greenville,  111.,  who  was  born  in 
Kentucky  and  lived  there  till  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  came  North.  He  was  a  forceful  speaker,  with 
a  rich,  sonorous  voice,  and  a  suave,  dignified  gentleman, 
who,  in  his  bearing  and  every-day  life,  represented  the 
highest  type  of  the  true  Christian  gentleman. 

Having  been  born  and  reared  in  a  slave-environment 
he  knew  the  wrongs  and  evils  of  the  slave  system,  and 
when,  in  the  fifties,  the  attempt  was  made  to  contaminate 
the  free  prairies  of  Kansas  with  slave  labor,  Reverend 
Mr.  Hynes  was  a  modest,  but  integral  part  of  the  great 
upheaval  north  of  the  Ohio  River  that  finally  engulfed 
the  threatening  movement  on  the  part  of  the  ultra  South- 
ern leaders. 

His  three  sons  were  in  the  Union  Army,  and  one  of 
them  fell  at  Vicksburg,  where  he  now  fills  a  soldier's 
honored  grave. 

Among  those  who  left  their  homes  in  the  South  on 
account  of  their  dislike  to  slavery  and  came  to  the  west- 
ern wilderness  in  Illinois,  while  it  was  yet  a  territory 
was  my  grandfather,  Charles  Johnson,  who  raised  a  larg 
family,  and  when  the  Civil  War  came  on  not  one  of  hi 
descendants,  who  was  of  suitable  age  and  physically  fit 
failed  to  enlist,  and  one  of  them  gave  up  his  life  a 
Chickamauga. 

But  what  was  true  of  these  two  patriots  was  true  o 
thousands  and  thousands  of  Southern-born  men  ii 
Illinois,  Indiana  and  Ohio,  among  whom  Abraham  Lin 
coin  was  the  great  prototype,  and  who,  when  the  terribl 
crisis  came  in  the  early  sixties,  stood  like  a  wall  o 


Some  Embryo  Soldiers.  35 

adamant  for  the  integrity  of  the  Federal  Government. 
Indeed,  the  part  borne  by  these  stalwart  Unionists  of 
Southern  birth  and  descent  was  so  weighty  that  it  really 
turned  the  scales  and,  in  the  final  reckoning,  made  the 
preservation  of  the  Union  possible.  What  a  theme  for 
a  volume  would  the  work  of  these  men  afford!  These 
stalwarts  loved  the  sunny  Southland,  but  they  loved  the 
Union  more.  Among  the  last-named  were  Generals 
Scott,  Thomas,  Logan,  Hurlburt,  Commodore  Farragut 
and  scores  of  other  great  Civil  War  leaders. 

Under  Lincoln's  call  for  600,000  volunteers  in  July  and 
August,  1862,  two  full  companies  were  enlisted  in  my 
little  native  County  of  Band,  which  came  to  be  noted  for 
its  patriotism.  During  the  month  of  August  and  early 
days  of  September  these  volunteers  rendezvoused  at 
Greenville,  our  County  Seat,  a  quiet  old-time  village 
of  about  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants,  and  twenty  miles 
distant  from  the  nearest  railway  station.  Here  we  were 
billeted,  or  quartered,  at  the  two  village  taverns. 

Very  many  of  the  two  hundred  young  men  composing 
these  two  companies  were  fine,  stalwart  fellows,  whose 
bronzed  faces  showed  the  healthy  traces  of  the  sun's  rays 
under  which  they  had  followed  the  plow  during  the  cul- 
tivating season,  then  just  over;  though  when  I  enlisted 
I  let  go  the  handles  of  the  plow  and  left  it  sticking  in 
the  furrow.  Most  of  us  were  under  twenty-five  years  of 
age — a  great  many,  indeed,  under  twenty — and  a  jolly, 
rollicking  bunch  we  were,  but,  almost  to  a  man,  all  were 
staunch,  of  sterling  worth,  and  were  members  of  the  best 
families  in  the  county.  One  night  a  number  of  us  went 
out  in  the  country  two  or  three  miles,  if  I  remember  cor- 
rectly, in  quest  of  watermelons,  but  whether  or  not  we 
found  them,  I  do  not  now  recall,  but  one  experience  of 


36  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

that  summer  night  I  shall  never  forget,  We  took  with 
us  a  supply  of  cigars  for  those  who  were  already 
smokers,  and  those  who  were  not  yet  smokers,  alike. 
Those  of  us  who  had  not  before  learned  to  smoke  had 
become  impressed  with  the  idea  that  we  never  could 
become  real,  true  soldiers  till  we  added  this  last  to  our 
list  of  accomplishments.  Once  before  I  had  tried  to 
smoke,  but  my  efforts  ended  in  a  severe  attack  of  vomit- 
ing. This  night,  however,  notwithstanding  my  former 
failure,  I  resolved  to  make  one  more  heroic  effort  to 
acquire  the  smoking  habit,  but,  much  to  my  dismay  and 
chagrin,  soon  after  inhaling  the  smoke  of  about  half  a 
cigar  I  was  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of  sick  stomach 
and  vomiting  which  made  me  so  weak  that  I  was  hardly 
able  to  get  back  to  our  stopping  place.  This  apparent 
failure  of  fifty-odd  years  ago  I  have  long  since  come  to 
regard  as  one  of  the  decidedly  fortunate  occurrences  of 
my  life,  for  it  kept  me  from  acquiring  a  costly  and  ques- 
tionable habit. 

At  the  village  taverns,  beds  for  all  could,  of  course, 
not  be  had,  consequently  we  slept  on  lounges,  benches, 
carpets,  bare  floors;  indeed,  on  almost  any  smooth  sur- 
face that  was  under  shelter.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  we  all  had  fine  appetities,  the  demands  of  which 
severely  taxed  the  tavern  larders1. 

So  passed  the  remainder  of  August  and  the  early  days 
of  September,  when  one  day  an  order  came  for  us  to 
rendezvous  at  Belleville,  111.,  a  small  city,  forty  miles 
away. 

One  moonless  night  in  August,  a  little  time  before  we 
left  Greenville,  our  company  was  drawn  up  in  front  of 
the  Court  House  to  receive  a  beautiful  flag,  a  present 
from  the  women  whose  husbands,  brothers,  sons  and 


1 


A  Flag  is  Given  Us.  37 

sweethearts  were  soon  to  see  service  at  the  front.  Two 
or  three  tallow  candles  furnished  a  flickering  uncertain 
light,  under  whose  dim  rays  a  Miss  Smith,  a  beautiful 
young  woman,  mounted  the  Court  House  steps,  and  in 
a  few  well  chosen  words,  spoken  in  a  sweet  voice,  pre- 
sented the  flag.  John  B.  Reid,  then  the  Captain  of  the 
company  in  which  I  had  enlisted,  responded  briefly  and 
appropriately. 

The  flag  was  made  of  fine  silk  and  most  beautiful  were 
its  .seven  stripes  of  red,  six  of  snowy  white  and  delicate 
field  of  blue,  studded  with  thirty-four  immaculate  stars, 
representing  as  many  States,  although  eleven  of  these 
were  making  war  upon  this  flag  and  all  it  stood  for. 

After  the  fair  young  maiden  had  spoken  her  few 
words  and  the  captain  had  responded,  the  flag  was  un- 
furled three  rousing  cheers  were  given,  and  every  man 
silently1  resolved,  if  need  be,  to  give  his  life  for  the  pre- 
servation of  this  noble  emblem. 

This  flag  we  took  with  us  when  we  went  to  the 
enemy's  country,  but  unfortunately,  during  our  various 
marches  and  transfers  from  one  to  another  locality,  it 
was  misplaced,  and  never  afterward  found.  Thusi  it 
came  about  that  not  one  of  us  was  given  opportunity  to 
"die  for  its  preservation." 

In  this  same  month  of  August,  1862,  another  beautiful 
Bond  County  flag,  the  handiwork  of  the  wives,  sisters, 
mothers  and  sweethearts  of  the  newly-enlisted  men,  was 
made  at  Pocahontas,  my  native  village,  and  by  one  of  its 
fair  maidens,  Miss  Sarah  Green,  presented  to  an  organi- 
zation that  later  became  Company  E,  130th  Illinois 
Infantry  Volunteers.  In  due  time  this  Pocahontas  flag 
was  carried  to  the  enemy's  country,  and  by  his  bullets  its 
folds  were  more  than  once  pierced  during  the  Siege  of 


38  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Vicksburg.  The  war  over,  the  flag  was  returned  to  the 
people  from  whence  it  came,  and  is  today  a  highly  cher- 
ished relic  in  the  care  of  J,  W.  Miles,  a  Civil  War 
veteran  of  Pocahontas. 

Most  certainly  this  shot-pierced,  home-made  flag,  old 
and  tattered  by  more  than  a  half  century's  history,  is 
well  and  unquestionably  entitled  to  be  called  "Old 
Glory." 

The  Pocahontas  flag  is  only  one  of  many,  many  thou- 
sands, that  were  given  to  outgoing  volunteers  by  patriotic 
women  whose  prayers  and  hopes  followed  their  loved 
ones  wheresoever  duty  called  them.  But,  sad  to  say,  the 
great  majority  of  the  flags  of  this  class  are  from  one 
cause  or  another,  no  longer  in  existence;  hence,  the  pos- 
sessors of  the  Pocahontas  "Old  Glory"  have  reason  to 
congratulate  themselves  over  their  exceptional  good  for- 
tune. 

To  the  non-military  reader  it  may  be  well  to  say  that 
the  State  furnished  every  newly-organized  regiment  a 
flag  which  became  its  recognized  .standard.  In  review, 
on  parade,  on  all  public  occasions  and  in  battle,  this  flag! 
was  unfurled,  and  borne  at  the  head  of  the  regiment  by 
the  color-bearer.  In  the  event  the  flag  was  lost  or  de- 
stroyed, the  State,  as  promptly  as  possible,  furnished 
another  one. 

Finally,  when  the  term  of  service  ended  and  the  regi- 
ment was  mustered  out,  its  flag  reverted  to  the  State,  and 
was  supposed  to  be  ever  after  cared  for. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  regimental  flags  are  in  a  class 
to  themselves,  and,  as  such,  cannot  be  claimed  by  individ- 
uals nor  by  communities. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FROM  CORN  FIELD  TO  CAMP. 

"The  fields  are  ravished  of  th'  industrious  swains." 

— POPE. 

IN  the  latter  part  of  August,  1862,  while  men  all  over 
the  North  were,  in  thousands,  cheerfully  responding  to 
President  Lincoln's  latest  and  largest!  call  for  troops, 
General  Pope  was  seriously  defeated  in  Northern  Vir- 
ginia, and  with  his  army  had  fallen  back  on  the  defenses 
of  Washington. 

A  little  later,  about  the  middle  of  September,  these 
reverses  were,  in  part,  .retrieved  by  the  same  troops 
under  McClellan  at  South  Mountain  and  Antietam.  All 
this  occurred  while  the  two  companies  from  Bond 
County  were  yet  in  citizens'  dress  and  eating  the  food  of 
civil  life.  Already,  however,  each  volunteer  had  taken 
an  oath  before  a  justice  of  the  peace  to  support  the  Con- 
stitution and  laws  of  the  United  States. 

The  round  of  routine  at  Greenville,  eating,  sleeping, 
drilling,  etc. — the  county  seat  of  little  Bond — was  varied 
one  evening  by  a  social  gathering  in  the  audience 
room  of  the  Court  House,  at  which  all  the  soldiers  and 
many  citizens  and  ladies  were  present.  Some  good  vocal 
music  was  rendered,  and  one  soloist,  Miss  Lucy  White, 
daughter  of  President  White,  of  Almira  College,  sang 
with  much  effect  a  selection,  then  just  published,  in 
which  are  the  words : 

"Brave  boys  are  they,  gone  at  their  country's  call, 
And  yet,  and  yet,  we  cannot  forget  that  many  brave  boys  must 
fall." 

(39) 


40  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

If  I  remember  correctly,  these  two  lines  were  a  sort 
of  refrain  at  the  end  of  each  verse,  and  the  words,  "must 
fall,"  sounded  to  me  especially  doleful — so  doleful  that 
I  could  not  enter  into  the  cheery  character  that  it  was 
intended  the  gathering  should  assume,  and,  at  its  close, 
the  words,  "must  fall,"  rang  in  my  ears  till  I  felt  almost 
sure  I  was  destined  to  die  on  some  Southern  battlefield. 
However,  next  morning's  sunshine  dissipated  all  my 
gloomy  forebodings  and  my  boyish  vigor  and  innate  op- 
timism caused  me  to  take  a  cheerful  view  of  the  future — 
a  view  that  time  has  justified,  for,  since  that  social  gath- 
ering in  the  Court  House,  fifty-four  long  years  have  run 
their  course,  and  of  those  assembled  on  that  August 
night,  I  am  one  of  the  few  left  to  tell  the  story. 

Miss  White's  solo,  doleful  as  it  seemed,  was  not  with- 
out its  good  effect,  for  even  the  most  thoughtless  among 
us  was  made  to  think  seriously  of  the  new  and  danger- 
ous duties  upon  which  we  were  about  to  enter. 

As  elsewhere  noted,  an  order  had  been  received  from 
the  State  Capital  at  Springfield,  directing  the  two  Bond 
County  companies  to  rendezvous  at  Belleville,  111.,  about 
forty  miles  away  and  not  far  from  St.  Louis, 

As  the  time  for  departure  drew  near,  every  man  visited 
his  home,  made  his  final  arrangements,  said  farewell  to 
his  friendis,  and  then  joined  his  comrades  at  Greenville. 

But  sad  and  tearful  was  this  farewell,  as  father, 
mother,  brother,  sister,  wife,  or  sweetheart,  took  the 
parting  one  by  the  hand,  none  knowing  how  soon  he 
would  fall  in  the  frightful  death-harvest  a  great  devas- 
tating war  was  every  hour  reaping. 

At  the  appointed  time  friends,  neighbors  and  relatives 
came  with  farm  wagon®  and,  early  one  beautiful  Septem- 


Pocahontas  Flag;    Real   "Old   Glory." 


First  Home-leaving.  41 

ber  morning,  the  vehicles  were  loaded  with  hearty  speci- 
mens of  young  manhood,  all  ideal  "cannon-food,"  and 
the  journey  over  a  dusty  road  to  the  nearest  railway  sta- 
tion, twenty  miles  away  at  Carlyle,  was  begun. 
-  Three  or  four  miles  on  the  road  was  a  hill  where  we, 
for  some  cause,  halted  for  a  time.  From  here  I  remem- 
ber taking  a  look  at  the  Court  House,  about  which  we 
had  been  drilling  for  several  weeks,  and  whose  friendly 
roof  had  sheltered  us  from  rain  and  sun  alike,  and  as 
its  familiar  outline  loomed  up  in  the  morning's  sun  I 
wondered  if  I  should  ever  again  look  upon  it. 

About  noon  we  reached  Carlyle,  on  what  was  then 
known  as  the  Ohio  &  Mississippi  Railroad,  now  the 
Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railway,  and  soon  a  west-bound  train 
came  in  and  we  all  went  aboard.  And  will  the  reader 
believe  it,  to  many  of  us  this  experience  was  absolutely 
new,  for  I,  in  common  with  most  of  my  comrades,  had 
never  before  been  inside  a  railway  coach !  To  satisfy 
any  reader  who  may  be  in  a  wondering  mood,  let  it  be 
•said  that  a  half  century  ago  railways  were  very  much 
fewer,  and  railway  travel  vastly  less,  than  now. 

After  going  west  on  the  train  for  about  twenty-five 
miles1  we  got  off,  detrained  as  we  say  today,  at  O'Fallon 
and  marched  in  a  southwesterly  direction  till  we  came 
to  Belleville,  seven  miles  distant.  The  afternoon  was 
hot,  the  roads  dusty,  and  I  remember  suffering  much  dis- 
comfort from  a  pair  of  tight-fitting  shoes  I  had  bought 
the  day  previous.  Before  we  reached  Belleville  my  dis- 
comfort amounted  to  almost  torture,  and  for  this  reason 
I  look  back  upon  this  initial  march  of  only  seven  miles 
as  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  uncomfortable  I  wajs 
called  upon  to  make  during  my  whole  three  years'  service. 


42  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Arrived  at  Belleville,  we  were  directed  to  the  Fair 
Grounds  where,  under  the  board  roofs  of  horse  and  cat- 
tle stalls,  we  found  quarters.  An  abundance  of  clean, 
bright  straw  had  been  provided,  upon  which  the  blankets 
and  quilts  were  spread,  which  last  we  had  brought  from 
our  homes,  and  thus  we  arranged  for  our  first  night's 
sleep  in  the  new  career  before  us.  The  grounds  were 
inclosed  with  a  high,  tight  fence,  and  within  were  groves 
of  shade  trees  and  green,  thrifty  grass.  The  September 
weather  was  delightful,  and  the  novelty  of  the  new  situa- 
tion and  way  of  living  was  most  enjoyable. 

However,  there  was  one  drawback;  meals  were  taken 
at  the  several  boarding  houses  in  the  city,  and  as  these 
were  substantially  all  run  by  Germans,  Belleville  being 
largely  populated  with  people  of  that  nationality,  the 
taste  and  fumes  of  garlic  seemed  to  permeate  every  arti- 
cle of  food  on  the  table.  It  was,  of  course,  in  all  the 
meats,  in  many  of  the  vegetables;  but  every  man  would 
have  taken  oath  that  it  was  in  the  bread  and  butter,  if 
indeed,  not  in  the  coffee  and  sugar  as  well. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  the  more  advanced  sani- 
tarians of  today,  we  all  suffered  from  severe  colds  not 
long  after  we  began  sleeping  out,  and  the  exposure  in- 
curred in  this  way  was  assigned  as  the  cause. 

At  the  end  of  about  ten  days  we  were  ordered  to  Camp 
Butler,  near  Springfield.  We  boarded  a  train  for  St. 
Louis,  and  arriving  there,  went  by  steamboat  to  Alton, 
111.,  and  here,  sometime  after  nightfall,  we  climbed  on 
coal  cars,  entrained,  and  found  seats  on  boards  which 
were  put  across  from  side  to  side.  We  found  the  ride 
anything  but  pleasant,  those  sitting  near  the  outer  edge 
seemed  in  constant  danger  of  falling  overboard,  and  the 


We  Arrive  at  Camp  Butler.  43 

smoke,  cinders  and  sparks  were  tormenting  in  the  ex- 
treme. 

Some  time  in  the  "wee-small"  hours  we  arrived  at 
Springfield  and  got  off,  detrained,  at  the  Alton  &  Chi- 
cago Railway  station.  Meantime,  a  drizzling  rain  began 
to  fall,  and  the  men  found  shelter  as  best  they  could. 
With  a  companion  I  found  this  in  the  open  vestibule  of 
a  church  a  little  south  of  the  station.  Next  morning  we 
got  breakfast  at  one  of  the  cheaper  hotels,  and  this  was 
destined  to  be  one  of  our  very  last  meals  eaten  from 
dishes  placed  on  a  white  tablecloth. 

During  the  forenoon  several  of  us  visited  the  home  of 
President  Lincoln  and  picked  some  flowers  from  the 
front  yard  and  sent  them  home  in  letters. 

Near  noon  time  we  boarded  a  train  on  the  Wabash 
Railway  for  Camp  Butler,  seven  miles  east  of  Spring- 
field. On  this  train  was  Major  General  John  C.  Fre- 
mont, in  full  uniform,  and  we  all  took  a  good  look  at 
him,  as  he  was  the  first  officer  of  high  rank  we  had  seen. 
He  was  a  man  of  medium  stature,  and  wore  rather  light 
sandy  whiskers.  This  last  was  a  surprise  to  me,  for 
when  he  was  candidate  for  President  in  1856  he  was 
represented  as  heavily  whiskered,  so  heavily,  indeed,  that 
he  won  the  sobriquet  of  "Wooly  Horse." 

Arrived  at  Camp  Butler  we  detrained  and  passed! 
through  a  gate  near  the  railway,  guarded  by  a  uni- 
formed soldier  with  a  gun  in  his  hands,  and  entered  an 
enclosure  of  about  forty  acres,  surrounded  by  a  high, 
tight  board  fence.  Along  two  sides  of  this  enclosure 
were  rows  of  long,  narrow  buildings,  which  were  known 
as  barracks.  At  one  end  was  the  office  of  the  Post  Com- 
mandant, and  nearby,  the  Commissary  and  Quartermas- 
ter's Department.  At  the  other  end  was  the  Hospital, 


44  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Guard-House,  Sutler's  Store,  etc.  In  the  center  was  a 
large  open  space,  used  as  a  drill-ground.  In  the  middle 
of  the  rear  end,  as  at  the  front,  was  a  large  gate  for 
teams  to  pass  through,  and  beside  it  a  smaller  one,  for 
the  egress  and  ingress  of  the  men;  both  were  guarded 
by  an  armed  soldier,  and  no  one  could  go  out  without  a 
pass  signed  by  the  Post  Commandant. 

A  company  was  assigned  to  each  of  the  long,  narrow 
buildings,  which  we  soon  learned  to  familiarly  call  bar- 
racks. This  had  at  one  end  a  kitchen  and  store-rooms 
and  at  the  other  end  two  or  three  small  apartments  for 
the  officers.  Through  the  center  of  the  main  room  ran 
a  long  table  made  of  rough  boards,  and  from  which  all 
ate.  At  the  sides  of  this  main  room  were  box-like  struc- 
tures, open  in  front,  having  tiers  of  boards  upon  which 
two  men  slept  side  by  side.  These  we  called  bunks. 
Thus  it  was  that  our  long,  narrow  barracks  were  not 
unlike  a  sleeping-car  and  dining-car  combined.  The 
barracks  were  made  of  rough  boards  put  on  "up-and- 
down,"  with  no  ceiling  overhead  save  the  shingle  roof, 
and  windows  and  doors  were  few,  purposely,  to  save 
space. 

Here  began  the  crude,  coarse  fare  of  soldier  life.  Ra- 
tions in  abundance  and  of  essential  good  quality  were 
supplied,  but  their  preparation  lacked  the  skilled,  delicate 
hand  of  woman ;  but  of  this  more  hereafter. 

Not  long  after  reaching  Camp  Butler  I  was  attacked 
with  ague,  and  for  this  the  Post  Surgeon  very  properly 
prescribed  quinine.  The  hospital  steward  gave  me  six 
powders  of  that  drug,  put  up  in  as  many  papers,  and,  as 
the  bitter  taste  of  quinine  was  especially  repugnant  to 
me,  I  cast  about  for  some  means  to  overcome  this,  and 
in  the  end  could  think  of  no  better  plan  than  the  one  I 


Not  Appendicitis.  45 

had  seen  my  mother  put  in  use.  In  seeking  to  carry  this 
out  I  called  on  the  Sutler  and  paid  him  five  cents  for  an 
especially  mellow  apple,  and  some  of  the  scrapings  of 
this  I  placed  in  the  bottom  of  an  iron  spoon  which  I  bor- 
rowed from  one  of  the  cooks,  thus  forming  layer  No.  1. 
On  this  I  put  the  contents  of  one  paper,  forming  layer 
No.  2,  then  over  all  I  put  some  more  apple  scraping, 
forming  layer  No.  3.  So  far  all  went  well,  but  unfor- 
tunately all  went  wrong  when  I  attempted  to  swallow  the 
bolus ;  for  I  got  the  upper  layer  of  apple  and  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  quinine  and  all  its  horrid  taste,  as  this  was, 
no  doubt,  added  to  by  the  acid  in  the  apple.  Just  how 
I  managed  to  take  the  remainder  of  the  powders  I  do 
not  now  recall,  but,  in  any  event,  I  made  a  prompt 
recovery  from  my  ague. 

Some  weeks  after  this  I  was  attacked  with  a  terrible 
pain  in  the  bowels,  and,  as  it  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
night,  one  of  my  comrades  went  for  the  Post  Surgeon, 
who  prescribed  paregoric,  which  finally  brought  relief 
after  several  dosesi  had  been  taken.  Unfortunately  for 
my  more  speedy  relief,  the  hypodermic  syringe  had  not 
yet  come  in  use;  but  fortunately,  perhaps,  for  my 
permanent  peace  and  comfort,  appendicitis  had  not  yet 
taken  its  place  in  the  category  of  distinct  disease  entities, 
and  consequently  the  operation  of  appendectomy  had  not 
yet  been  devised.  Had  there  been  recognized  such  a  dis- 
ease as  appendicitis,  or  had  there  been  such  an  operation 
as  appendectomy,  the  outcome  might  have  been  altogether 
different.  I  was  a  vigorous  youth,  suffering  with  agoniz- 
ing pain  in  the  classic  region  of  McBurney's  Point.  My 
medical  adviser  was  recently  out  of  school,  and  was  pos- 
sessed of  an  aggressive  make-up.  Had  it  been  possible 
to  project  the  situation  a  generation  into  the  future,  this 


46  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

story  might  have  had  a  different  ending,  and  I  might  not 
be  here  to  tell  it ;  or  I  might  be  wearing  a  certain  cross- 
abdomen  slash,  so  to  speak,  familiar  to  modern  surgeons. 

But  as  things  were,  in  that  autumn  day  in  1862,  my 
case  was  diagnosed  colic,  or,  in  plain  English,  "belly- 
ache," an  old-time,  old-fashioned,  honest  disease  that 
appendectomists  have  nearly,  or  quite,  crowded  out  of 
the  category  of  human  ailments. 

Doubtless,  my  trouble  was  due  to  an  attack  of  acute 
indigestion,  in  turn  due  to  too  many  amateur  cooks 
(among  whom  I  had  been  one)  in  our  barrack  kitchen. 

As  said  before,  we  received  an  abundance  of  good 
rations,  but  we  did  not  know  how  to  cook  them.  Each 
day  two  men  were  detailed  from  the  company  to  do  duty 
in  the  kitchen.  These,  the  first  day,  served  as,  assistants 
to  two  other  men  who  but  the  day  previous  were  them- 
selves assistants,  and  with  the  ripe  experience  gained  in 
one  day's  apprenticeship,  were  now  full-fledged  cooks, 
and  capable  of  instructing  the  uninitiated. 

Little  wonder  is  it  that,  with  these  constant  changes  in 
the  kitchen,  the  food  was  at  nearly  all  times  ill  pre- 
pared, and  chance  too  often  an  important  factor  in  the 
results  obtained.  For  illustration,  meat  which  was  placed 
in  the  oven  to  roast,  from  the  presence  of  too  much  fat 
turned  out  a  fry,  and  beef  put  in  the  kettle  to  boil,  from 
the  absence  of  water  at  a  critical  stage,  would  be  baked 
instead,  if  indeed  it  was  not  hopelessly  burned. 

Potatoes  were  almost  never  properly  cooked,  even 
when  apparently  well  done,  a  raw  core  would  frequently 
be  found  in  the  center.  Coffee  was,  at  times,  only  a 
little  stronger  than  water,  at  others  it  wasi  like  lye. 

But  rice,  white  beans  and  dried  apples  gave  the  ama- 
teur cooks  the  most  trouble.  In  cooking  these  the  novice 


Amateur  Cooking.  47 

would  invariably  fill  the  camp  kettle,  a  large  sheet-iron 
vessel,  holding  two  or  more  gallons,  with  one  of  these 
articles,  and  then  pour  in)  water  and  set  it  over  the  fire. 
In  a  little  time  the  beans  or  dried  apples  would  begin  to 
swell  and  run  over  the  sides  of  the  vessel ;  meantime,  the 
new  cook  would  dip  out  the  contents  and  put  them  in 
another  vessel;  the  swelling  process  continued,  the  dip- 
ping proceeded,  till  a  second  vessel  was  as  full  as  the 
first,  and  there  seemed  to  be  enough  for  two  or  three 
companies  instead  of  only  one. 

Good  cook  stoves  and  serviceable  utensils  were  fur- 
nished by  the  Government,  in  addition  to  rations  in 
abundance  and  of  exceptional  quality.  The  lame  factor 
was  in  the  food's  preparation.  Had  it  been  possible  for 
the  Government  to  have  supplied  newly-enlisted  com- 
panies with  good  cooks  till  others  could  have  been 
trained,  an  untold  amount  of  sickness  would  have  been 
prevented,  and  many  graves  would  have  remained  un- 
filled, not  to  speak  of  the  many  thousands  who  were  dis- 
charged from  the  service  by  reason  of  ailments  due  to 
ill-prepared  food. 


CHAPTER   V. 

FROM  CAMP  TO  THE  ENEMY'S  COUNTRY. 

"The  flags  of  war  like  storm-birds  fly, 

The  charging  trumpets  blow; 
Yet  rolls  no  thunder  in  the  sky, 
No  earthquake  strikes  below." 

— WHITTIER. 

As  most  of  us  were  from  the  farms  where  we  had 
been  used  to  absolute  freedom,  the  confinement  imposed 
on  us  at  Camp  Butler  soon  became  very  monotonous  and 
irksome.  Indeed,  it  seemed  little  short  of  being  confined 
in  prison.  To  relieve  the  monotony  we  occasionally 
secured  a  pass  from  the  Post  Commandant  and  visited 
the  world  outside  the  enclosure,  Once  or  twice  we  went 
to  Springfield,  at  other  times  we  spent  some  hours  in  the 
nearby  woods,  and  at  others  we  roamed  over  and  through! 
the  fields  of  growing  corn. 

In  the  autumn  of  1862  a  great  many  newly-enlisted 
men  were  sent  to  Camp  Butler  for  drill  and  organiza- 
tion; and  these  came  in  squads,  companies  and  even 
regiments,  always,  however,  unarmed,  undrilled  and  not 
uniformed.  In  these  men  a  few  days'  time  worked  a 
wonderful  transformation.  One  regiment  in  particular 
I  recall  as  presenting  the  most  motley  appearance  imagin- 
able. Brown  jeans  was  the  prevailing  dress,  but  every 
conceivable  cut  of  coat  and  style  of  hat  could  be  seen, 
and  all,  from  colonel  down,  were  slouchy  in  attire,  and 
awkward  and  ungainly  in  manner  and  appearance.  A 
few  weeks  later  the  same  body  of  men  marched  out  of 
Camp  Butler  to  take  the  cars  on  the  Wabash  Railway  at 
(48) 


Life  in  the  Barracks.  49 

the  front  gate  of  the  enclosure  bound  for  the  front  and 
the  firing-line;  but,  what  a  change!  Every  man  was 
dressed  in  a  new  well-fitting  uniform,  had  on  his  shoulder 
a  bright  new  musket  that  glistened  in  the  sunlight,  and 
moved  with  firm,  elastic  step.  The  whole  regiment 
marched  with  machine-like  precision,  and  kept  step  with 
the  rythmic  strains  of  the  band  at  its  head. 

In  front  of  the  Post  Commandant's  headquarters  at 
Camp  Butler  was  a  flagpole,  upon  which  early  each 
morning  was  run  up  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  that  were 
taken  down  again  when  night  approached.  Here,  also, 
was  a  cannon  that  was  fired  every  night  at  sunset  and 
every  morning  at  sunrise. 

To  keep  the  men  from  climbing  over  the  fence  a  chain 
of  guards  was  posted  next  to  it  all  around.  These  were 
armed  with  old  army  muskets  of  the  Harper's  Ferry 
pattern,  that  were  utterly  harmless,  all  being  in  some 
way  defective.  But  armed  with  one  of  these,  given  the 
countersign  and  put  on  his  "beat,"  perhaps,  between  a 
hickory  tree  and  a  white  oak  stump,  the  new  soldier  felt 
all  the  dignity  of  his  position  by  day  and  the  full  weight 
of  his  responsibilities  at  night.  At  this  period  words 
from  the  Eastern  army  were  most  in>  favor  for  counter- 
sign, such  as  "Burnside,"  "Kearney,"  "Hooker,"  "Chick- 
ahominy,"  "Potomac,"  "Rappahannock,"  etc. 

After  night  the  guard  allowed  no  one  to  approach 
without  challenge,  when,  if  the  party  purported  to  be  a 
friend,  he  was  required  to  whisper  the  countersign  over 
the  musket's  length  with  bayonet  attached. 

Before  regimental  organization  had  been  perfected  I, 
with  two  comrades,  procured  a  furlough  to  visit  home 
for  a  few  days.  We  arrived  by  rail  within  twenty  miles 
of  our  destination  at  9  P.M.  Time  was  limited,  so  it  wa"s 

4 


50  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

resolved  to  foot  it  home  that  very  night.  After  walking 
about  five  hours,  the  home  of  one  of  the  party  in  the 
country  was  reached,  and  to  save  time  and  get  to  sleep 
as  soon  as  possible,  it  was  decided  to  slip  in  the  house 
quietly  and  go  to  bed  at  once.  Accordingly,  guided  by 
the  comrade  whose  family  occupied  the  house,  all  were 
soon  disposed  of,  and  being  exceedingly  weary,  quickly 
went  to  sleep.  I  occupied  the  front  of  one  bed  and  one 
of  my  comrades  the  back.  All  slept  late,  and  at  the 
breakfast  table  the  next  morning  the  lady  of  the  house, 
a  matronly  woman,  said  to  me : 

"Didn't  know  I  kissed  you  awhile  ago,  did  you? 
Well,"  she  continued,  "I  went  into  the  spare  room  and 
first  thing  I  saw  was  soldier's  clothes,  andi  on  the  pillow 
I  saw  a  face  which  I  thought  was  my  Fielding's,  and  you 
better  believe  I  gave  it  one  good  kiss.  But  I  don't  care, 
it  was  a  soldier,  any  way !" 

Blessed  be  the  memory  of  her  patriotic  heart;  before 
the  war  ended,  four  of  her  sons  lost  their  lives  in  their 
country's  service.  Not  many  sacrificed  so  much;  aye, 
few  gave  so  much  to  sustain  the  Nation's  life, "even  in 
those  troublous  times,  when  sacrifice  and  patriotic  gifts 
were  so  common.  After  a  few  days  spent  most  pleas- 
antly at  home  I  returned  to  my  company  at  Camp  Butler. 

Newly-formed  regiments  of  men  were  outside,  and  all 
about  the  enclosure  at  Camp  Butler,  encamped  in  tents. 
After  staying  in  the  barracks  about  two  months  I  re- 
member being  detailed  for  guard  duty  one  beautiful 
Sabbath  day.  Guard  duty  necessitated  a  soldier's  absence 
from  his  quarters  for  twenty-four  hours,  though  he 
would  actually  be  on  his  beat  with  musket  in  hand  but 
one-third  of  the  time,  two  hours  out  of  every  six.  The 
time  referred  to,  my  two  hours  for  duty,  came  just  be- 


A  Teuton  Drill-master.  51 

fore  daylight  Monday  morning.  Looking  through  the 
fence  about  sunrise,  where  a  regiment  was  encamped  just 
outside,  several  groups  were  seen  eating  breakfast,  and 
these  were  not  composed  wholly  of  men,  but  were  made 
up  of  women,  girls  and  children  as  well.  Looking  closer, 
it  was  seen  that  they  were  eating  fried  chicken,  turkey, 
cake,  pie,  freshly-baked  bread  and  good  butter,  biscuit 
and  doughnuts.  By  this  time  the  man  on  the  next  beat 
had  joined  me,  and  the  effect  the  scene  had  upon  the 
two  soldiers  within  the  enclosure  can  never  be  appre- 
ciated by  the  reader  who  has  not  had  a  similar  experi- 
ence. The  wives,  sisters  and  children  of  these  more  for- 
tunate soldiers  had  evidently  come  to  spend  a  season 
with  their  friends,  and  had  brought  such  eatables  as  they 
knew  would  be  appreciated,  for  the  time  had  thus  liter- 
ally transferred  home-life  to  camp. 

Late  in  October,  ten  companies,  including  the  one  to 
which  I  belonged,  were  mustered  into  the  United  States 
service  as  the  130th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers.  The 
afternoon  was  cold  and  raw,  and  the  ceremony  was  not 
enjoyed.  Next  morning  was  bright  and  warm,  and  the 
newly-formed  regiment  was  formed  in  line,  when  the 
Colonel,  Lieutenant-Colonel  and  Major  each  made  a 
short  speech. 

The  new  organization  was  at  once  put  under  a  Dutch 
drillmaster,  a  short,  little  fellow,  with  a  red  face,  sandy 
moustache  and  goatee.--  He  wore  a  cap,  a  blue  blouse 
and  a  sword  that  dragged  the  lower  end  of  its  scabbard 
on  the  ground.  He  gave  his  commands  in  quick,  nervous, 
broken  English:  "Tenyan,  Titalyan!  Fa'rd  March!  By 
Goompanies,  Right  'Veel!"  (Attention  Battalion!  For- 
ward March!  By  Companies,  Right  Wheel!)  When  the 
evolutions  of  the  green  regiment  were  faulty,  it  was 


52  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

amusing  to  hear  the  scolding  in  broken  English  from  the 
drillmaster. 

Pretty  soon  the  regiment  received  its  arms,  Austrian 
rifled-muskets ;  these,  with  cartridge  boxes  containing  the 
ammunition,  canteens  in  which  to  carry  water,  haver- 
sacks (pouches  made  of  heavy  cotton  goods  for  rations), 
knapsacks  and  blankets,  fully  equipped  the  command. 
Furthermore,  each  man  received  his  uniform  of  regula- 
tion blue.  Not  long  after  the  regiment  became  fully 
equipped  orders  came  for  it  to  report  at  Memphis,  Tenn. 

One  cold  rainy  evening  the  cars  were  taken  on  the 
Wabash  Railway  at  our  front  gate,  and  after  a  cheerless 
ride,  St.  Louis  was  reached,  where  transportation  down 
the  river  was  procured  on  the  steamboat  General  Robert 
Allen,  the  meanest  old  hulk  afloat. 

The  trip  was  exceedingly  tedious,  water  in  the  river 
was  at  a  low  stage,  and  the  old  boat  frequently  ran 
aground,  but  with  the  help  of  spars  put  upon  either  side 
the  bow,  and  hoisting  apparatus,  always  managed  to 
again  get  underway. 

One  evening  the  boat  tied  up  on  the  Arkansas  shore; 
it  being  a  section  said  to,  be  infested  by  bands  of  armed 
rebels,  night  navigation  was  deemed  perilous.  The  regi- 
ment was  marched  ashore,  where  nothing  was  found  save 
a  rude  log  structure,  said  to  have  been  used  before  the 
war  as  a  store. 

The  region  was  heavily  timbered,  with  also  a  dense 
growth  of  underbrush,  but  much  of  it  had  a  strange 
appearance,  nearly  everything  being  yet  in  leaf.  Being 
in  the  enemy's  country,  a  strong  picket-guard  was  thrown 
out.  The  writer's  company,  with  another,  was  detailed 
on  this  duty.  The  men  were  marched  out  the  distance 
of  a  mile  from  the  regiment,  broken  up  in  squads  of 


A  Long  Whistle.  53 

four,  and  with  freshly  loaded  guns,  awaited  any  cause 
for  alarm.  There  was  no  disturbance,  but  being  in  the 
enemy's  country  was  an  entirely  new  experience,  and 
though  there  may  not  have  been  an  armed  Confederate 
within  fifty  miles,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  the  whole  regi- 
ment but  few  eyes  closed  that  night  in  sleep. 

Six  months  later,  so  inured  had  most  of  us  become  to 
war's  alarms,  that  sweet  and  refreshing  sleep  was  often 
taken  directly  under  fire.  The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and 
about  noon  the  old  boat  was  again  boarded  and  the  jour- 
ney resumed. 

A  man  belonging  to  the  regiment  died  not  long  after 
leaving  St.  Louis ;  the  carpenter  of  the  boat  made  a  pine 
coffin  in  which  the  body  was  placed  and  taken  to  Mem- 
phis. At  this  period  a  death  in  the  command  made  some- 
thing of  a  sensation,  but  all  were  soon  to  become  very 
familiar  with  this  "King  of  Terrors." 

As  the  journey  down  the  river  continued,  chimneys 
standing  alone  and  cheerless,  the  houses  having  been 
burned,  became  familiar  objects. 

The  lights  from  Memphis  came  in  sight  one  evening, 
and  the  old  boat  began  to  whistle,  but  from  some  de- 
rangement in  the  "shut  off"  the  noise  could  not  be 
stopped;  consequently,  after  the  landing  was  made  and 
the  boat  tied  up  the  whistle  blew  as  long  as  the  supply 
of  steam  in  the  boilers  lasted.  For  a  good  while  the 
night  was  made  hideous,  and  the  ears  of  all  tortured  by 
the  screeching  whistle  of  the  old  boat,  but  this  was  a  fit 
ending  to  the  tedious  and  dangerous  trip  on  the  crazy 
old  craft.  The  Quartermaster  of  the  regiment,  however, 
became  much  the  wiser  from  this  experience,  and  never 
again  had  such  transportation  put  upon  him. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

IN  AND  ABOUT  MEMPHIS  DURING  THE  WINTER 
OF    1862-3. 

"Before  the  battle  joins  afar 
The  field  yet  glitters  with  the  pomp  of  war." 

— DRYDEN. 

FORT  PILLOW,  in  the  Mississippi,  was  evacuated  June 
4,  1862,  after  which  the  National  fleet  dropped  down  the 
river,  and  at  early  dawn  June  6,  under  Commodore 
Davis,  attacked  the  Confederate  flotilla  lying  in,  front  of 
Memphis,  Tenn. 

The  result  was  a  complete  Union  victory.  Of  the 
eight  vessels  composing  the  Confederate  fleet,  three  were 
destroyed,  four  captured,  and  only  one,  the  Van  Dorn, 
escaped.  During  the  engagement  the  bluff  at  Memphis 
was  lined  with  spectators.  At  11  A.M.  the  city  sur- 
rendered, and  was  taken  possession  of  by  two  infantry 
regiments  accompanying  the  National  fleet.  Six  months 
after  this  event  the  regiment  to  which  I  belonged  arrived 
at  the  Memphis  steamboat  landing  after  night,  as  already 
detailed. 

Next  day  our  regiment  went  ashore  and  marched 
through  the  streets  that  in  places  were  very  muddy  from 
recent  rain-fall.  Now  and  then  a  house  was  passed,  from 
which  welcome  was  extended  by  a  waving  handkerchief 
in  the  hands  of  a  woman.  Most  of  the  female  sex,  how- 
ever, seemed  ready  to  extend  anything  but  a  welcome  to 
the  "hordes  from  the  North." 

Camp  was  formed  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  a 
beautiful  beech  grove  that  was  in  every  way  pleasantly 
(54) 


A  "Turn-out."  55 


located.  Here  tents  were  put  up,  huts  built  by  some,  and 
about  two  weeks  of  beautiful  November  weather  spent 
most  pleasantly.  A  line  of  guards  encircled  the  camp 
at  night  to  break  the  men  in  and  enforce  discipline  as 
much  as  anything,  perhaps.  On  this  duty  one  of  the  men 
accidentally  discharged  his  piece  and  the  bullet  passed 
through  his  foot.  This  was  the  first  gunshot  wound  in 
the  history  of  the  regiment, 

Upon  leaving  the  barracks  at  Camp  Butler  each  com- 
pany broke  up  into  messes,  composed  of  from  eight  to 
fifteen  men,  who  drew  their  rations  in  common  and  did 
their  cooking  together. 

Nearly  every  day  our  regiment  went  out  on  dress- 
parade,  a  term  that,  to  the  non-military  reader,  needs 
explanation.  To  participate  in  this,  each  man,  before 
falling  in  ranks,  was  required  to  have  his  uniform  in 
good  order,  his  accoutrements  in  neat  trim,  his  gun  and 
metallic  appendages  bright,  then  our  regiment  in  line 
marched  to  some  convenient  level,  open  space,  and  went 
through  the  manual  of  arms,  and,  so  to  speak,  displayed 
itself  to  the  very  best  advantage. 

One  day  our  regiment  selected  for  its  place  of  parade 
an  open  space  near  a  public  highway,  parallel  with  and 
facing  which,  it  was  drawn  up.  Some  military  exercises 
had  just  been  gone  through  and  the  men  were  standing 
easily  at  parade-rest,  when  a  turn-out  passed  along  the 
road  within  a  few  feet  of  them  that  was  new  to  North- 
ern eyes,  but  afterward  frequently  seen  in  the  South  dur- 
ing war  times. 

An  old  dilapidated  family  carriage  that  looked  as 
though  it  might  have  seen  service  since  the  Revolution- 
ary period,  drawn  by  a  large,  dark-colored,  raw-boned 
horse,  only  a  skeleton  in  fact,  and  a  little,  old,  mouse- 


56  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

colored  donkey;  upon  these  were  shreds  of  old  harness, 
attached  to  which  were  some  shabby  old  relics  of  silver 
mounting.  Mounted  on  the  box,  with  rope  lines  in  his 
hands,  was  an  old  gray-haired  darky,  who  sat  upright  and 
dignified,  an  old  and  very  high  plug  hat  on  his  head,  and 
his  person  attired  in  the  antiquated  remains  of  a  coach- 
man's livery.  Within  the  carriage  was  a  man  and 
woman.  The  whole  outfit  was  so  ridiculous  to  Northern 
eyes  that  a  hearty  laugh  went  along  the  line,  followed 
by  a  shout  that  was  participated  in  by  a  thousand  voices. 

At  this  period  but  few  negroes  lived  in  rural  sections 
of  the  North,  and  most  of  these  had  comparatively  reg- 
ular features,  but  it  was  soon  observed  that  very  many 
of  their  brethren  of  the  South  had  receding  foreheads, 
immense  mouths,  exceedingly  thick  lips,  and  flat,  shape- 
less noses. 

After  remaining  about  two  weeks  in  camp,  orders  came 
one  day  to  occupy  Fort  Pickering,  just  below  the  city. 
Like  nearly  all  localities  for  any  time  occupied  by  troops, 
unless  extraordinary  precautions  are  taken,  this  post  was 
filthy  and  repulsive  in  the  extreme.  Meantime  snow  fell, 
cold  weather  came  on,  and  some  most  unpleasant  days 
were  passed,  and,  to  make  matters  worse,  the  health  of 
many  began  to  fail. 

Our  mess  numbering  about  eight  persons,  occupied  a 
Sibley  tent  not  far  from  the  river  bank.  A  Sibley  tent 
is  round  at  the  base,  having  in  its  middle  a  center  pole, 
toward  which  the  canvas  slopes  from  every  direction, 
forming  a  perfect  cone.  The  location  of  this  tent  on  the 
high  bluff  next  the  river  gave  the  wind  full  sweep,  and 
the  swaying  of  the  canvas  and  flapping  of  the  ropes  was 
anything  but  pleasant,  especially  at  night. 


Merry  But  on  a  Serious  Errand.         57 

Fort  Pickering  was  at  this  period  surrounded  by  earth- 
works with  cannon  all  along  at  proper  intervals.  At  the 
date  of  occupancy  the  works  were  constantly  being 
strengthened  by  the  use  of  the  spade  and  shovel.  Most 
of  this  work  was  done  by  negroes,  who  were  fed  and 
paid  by  the  Government. 

After  a  time  came  an  order  for  our  regiment  to  do 
patrol  duty  in  the  city.  This  necessitated  the  breaking 
up  of  the  regiment  into  squads,  who,  for  the  time,  found 
quarters  and  did  duty  in  various  parts  of  the  city.  The 
company  to  which  I  belonged  found  quarters  in  a  large 
brick  block1  not  far  from  the  river,  In  this  building  were 
holes  made  by  cannon  shot,  thrown  during  the  naval 
engagement  the  6th  of  June  previous. 

Various  were  the  duties  performed ;  at  one  time  it  was 
guarding  a  steamboat  at  the  wharf ;  at  another,  goods  at 
the  levee;  again,  it  was  standing  in  the  rain  some  dark 
night  at  some  cheerless  corner,  for  what,  no  one  could 
say ;  then,  maybe,with  an  officer  and  a  number  of  men, 
it  was  a  tramp,  begun  after  bed-time,  to  the  suburbs,  all 
quietly;  a  sort  of  scouting  expedition  that  always  ended 
in  weary  legs  and  good  appetites  for  breakfast. 

About  this  time  General  Sherman  organized,  at  Mem- 
phis, an  army  to  advance  on  Vicksburg,  and  the  wharf 
was  lined  with  steamboats  loading  with  provisions,  muni- 
tions of  war,  and  a  little  later,  men.  One  day  a  great 
many  boats  loaded  with  soldiers  left  the  landing  and 
steamed  down  the  river.  It1  was  known  to  all  that  there 
was  to  be  a  fight,  and  I  remember  looking  at  the  many 
men  that  crowded  the  decks  of  these  steamers  as  the 
bells  rang,  signaling  the  engineers  to  put  on  steam,  when 

i  Bradley  Block. 


58  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

the  wheels  began  slowly  turning,  lashing  and  churning 
the  water  nearby;  the  boats  gently  swung  round  with 
their  prows  down  stream,  then  getting  out  into  the  main 
channel,  a  full  head  of  steam  was  turned  on;  that 
heaving  sound,  characteristic  of  a  boat  under  full  head- 
way, began;  and  the  men  raised  their  hats  and  cheered 
wildly  and  long. 

They  seemed  more  bent  on  a  pleasure  excursion  than 
to  give  battle  and  meet  a  determined  and  powerful  foe. 
I  remember  looking  at  them  in  this  jolly  mood,  and  won- 
dering how  many  of  the  merry  ones  would  soon  find  a 
grave  on  a  battlefield,  and  what  number  would  return 
maimed  and  wounded.  Not  very  long  was  it  when  word 
came  that  Sherman  had  been  repulsed  at  Vicksburg,  and 
in  a  little  while  after,  whole  boat  loads  of  wounded  sol- 
diers came  up  from  below. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  1863,  a  comrade  of  mine, 
a  warm  friend,  was  taken  seriously  sick  and  had  to  be 
removed  to  our  regimental  hospital.  That  he  might  have 
special  care  and  be  made  as  comfortable  as  possible,  I 
accompanied  him  thither  and  remained  with  him  some 
weeks,  till  his  friends  came  from  the  North  and  took  him 
home  to  die. 

Becoming  acquainted  with  the  surgeons  in  charge  and 
liking;  them,  and  not  caring  for  the  irregular  and  mixed 
duties  of  a  soldier  left  about  the  city,  I  was  induced  to 
remain  and  become  a  regular  hospital  attache.  The 
building  occupied  was  a  double  frame  structure,  having 
a  partition  from  front  to  rear  through  the  center,  with 
no  doors  of  communication.  It  was  two  stories  high,  and 
upstairs  and  down  had  wide  porches  the  whole  width  of 
the  building.  On  either  side  of  the  partition  were  two 
rooms,  one  in  front  and  one  in  rear,  and  a  hallway  with 


A  Discouraging  Outlook.  59 

a  flight  of  stairs  that  led  to  the  second  story,  arranged 
precisely  like  the  lower.  One  side  of  the  partition,  with  its 
four  rooms,  was  occupied  by  the  sick — each  room  formed 
a  separate  ward,  and  for  three  months  during  the  winter 
of  1862-3  these  apartments  were  literally  crowded  with 
the  sick  from  my  regiment.  The  other  side  of  the  parti- 
tion was  occupied  for  offices  and  used  as  storage-rooms. 
Back  of  the  main  building  and  adjoining  thereto  was  a 
long,  low  structure  used  as  a  kitchen  and  dining-room. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  sickness  and  many  deaths 
this  winter.  The  most  fatal  disease  was  measles.  Quite 
a  proportion  of  the  newly-enlisted  men  had  never  had 
measles,  and  among  this  class  that  disease  played  havoc. 
A  number  of  great  strapping  fellows  were  soon  attacked 
with  it,  some  of  whom  died,  others  became  permanent 
invalids  and  were  discharged,  and  a  few  lost  their  voices 
or  had  defective  eyesight  or  hearing.  So  much  for  the 
ravages  of  a  disease  in  the  army  that  in  civil  life  is  con- 
sidered a  comparatively  mild  malady. 

Perhaps  no  period  of  like  duration  was  more  discour- 
aging to  the  Union  cause  than  the  winter  of  1862-3.  The 
Army  of  the  Potomac,  under  Burnside,  had  met  with 
terrible  disaster  at  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  December  13, 
1862;  Sherman  had  been  repulsed  with  severe  loss  the 
same  month  at  Vicksburg,  and  December  31,  the  last  day 
of  the  year,  and  January  1,  1863,  was  fought  the  bloody 
battle  of  Stone's  River,  or  Murfreesboro,  between  the 
Union  forces  under  General  Rosecrans  and  the  Confed- 
erates under  General  Bragg,  either  side  losing  in  killed 
and  wounded  eight  to  ten  thousand  men,  and  neither 
winning  decisive  victory. 

An  unusual  amount  of  serious  sickness  prevailed 
throughout  the  armies  that  winter.  One  reason  ,possibly, 


60  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

was  the  great  amount  of  rainfall,  particularly  in  the 
western  and  southwestern  field  of  operations.  Another 
was  the  very  large  accession  of  new  troops.  For  six 
months  after  enlistment  a  new  regiment  has  to  pass 
through  a  sort  of  winnowing  process,  in  which  the  chaff, 
so  to  speak,  is  separated  from  the  wheat;  when  the 
weaklings,  the  soft,  tender,  susceptible  ones,  either  die, 
or,  becoming  unfit  for  duty,  are  discharged,  leaving  the 
command  with  a  lot  of  tried  men,  as  it  were — a  veritable 
"survival  of  the  fittest." 

Anyway,  the  winter  of  1862-3  was  one  of  peculiar 
discouragement  to  Union  people.  Nearly  all  with  whom 
I  came  in  contact  at  this  period,  most  of  whom  were 
soldiers,  seemed  to  feel  this.  In  and  about  Memphis 
sickness  of  a  serious  character  prevailed  among  the 
troops  all  winter. 

The  regimental  hospital  was  on  one  of  the  main  streets, 
and  from  its  front  windows  several  times  daily  could  be 
seen  a  slowly-moving  ambulance  within  which  was  a  pine 
coffin  containing  the  dead  body  of  a  soldier,  preceded  by 
a  military  band  playing  a  dirge,  and  followed  by  a  squad 
of  soldiers  with  reversed  arms.  Further  on  in  the  sub- 
urbs was  the  soldiers'  burying  ground. 

Erysipelas  prevailed  as  an  epidemic,  and  many  suf- 
fered terribly  from  this  disease.  When  it  attacked  the 
face,  its  favorite  site,  the  features  were  horribly  swollen 
and  distorted,  the  eyes  closed,  and  when  all  was  painted 
over  with  iodine,  a  frequent  local  remedy,  the  sufferer's 
countenance  was  as  inhuman-like  as  can  be  imagined. 
Erysipelas,  measles,  rheumatism,  typhoid  fever,  dysen- 
tery and  other  fatal  troubles  carried  off  many  men  dur- 
ing the  winter.  For  a  time  scarce  a  day  passed  but  one 
or  more  men  died  at  our  regimental  hospital.  As  one 


Our  One  Woman.  61 

poor  fellow  after  another  was  carried  out  in  his  pine 
coffin  I  remember  thinking  of  the  sad  news  the  next  out- 
going mail  would  convey  to  friends  away  up  North. 

Some  wife,  mother  or  sister;  would,  for  a  time,  lead  a 
sadder  life  and  carry  a  heavier  heart.  Before  death,  in 
the  great  majority  of  cases,  the  sufferer  seemed  to  pass 
into  a  listless  condition,  wherein  indifference  was  mani- 
fested for  everything  about  him;  the  past  and  the  future 
seemed  alike  to  be  ignored.  The  mind  appeared,  in  all 
cases,  to  fail  with  the  body,  and  sensation  became  blunted, 
so  that  the  so-called  "agony  of  death"  was  never  seen. 

One  case,  however,  is  recalled  in  which  a  patient,  just 
before  death  from  pulmonary  consumption,  bade  farewell 
to  those  about  him,  and  expressed  a  wish  to  meet  them  in 
a  better  world.  His  mind  appeared  clear  up  to  the  last 
moment,  and  his  wasted  features  and  sunken  eyes  seemed 
cheerful,  and  at  times  almost  animated. 

Connected  with  our  hospital  was  a  lady  who  acted  as 
matron.  She  frequently  passed,  through  the  wards  with 
some  delicacy  for  the  sick  in  her  hands ;  this  she  gave  to 
such  as  could  take  it;  often  the  poor  fellow  had  no 
stomach  for  anything,  but  the  pleasure  of  receiving  some- 
thing from  the  fair  hands  of  woman  was  too  tempting 
to  resist,  and  down  it  went,  stomach  or  no  stomach. 
Again,  she  would  pass  from  cot  to  cot,  saying  a  kind 
word  to  each  occupant,  adjusting  the  blanket  for  this 
one,  wiping  the  clammy  sweat  of  death  from  another's 
brow,  and  maybe  writing  to  mother  or  wife  for  one  too 
feeble  to  use  his  pen. 

At  that  period  the  trained  nurse,  as  we  have  her  to- 
day, was  wholly  unknown.  Our  matron  did  no  nursing, 
but  she  was  a  woman,  and  that  meant  much — very,  very 
much — amid  those  surroundings.  When  she  came  through 


62  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

the  wards  neatly  dressed,  with  her  hair  combed  smoothly 
down  over  her  face,  as  was  then  the  fashion,  and  a  pleas- 
ant smile  lighting  up  her  countenance,  she  seemed  a 
veritable  angel  of  mercy ;  and  her  mere  presence  brought 
up  visions  of  those  near  and  dear  in  the  far-off  North- 
land. To  one  it  was,  maybe,  a  loving  mother.  To  an- 
other, a  kindly  sister;  to  yet  another,  a  faithful  wife; 
and,  perhaps,  to  one  more,  it  was  a  devoted  sweetheart. 
But  always  the  presence  of  gentle,  kindly,  tender  woman- 
hood. Should  the  reader  be  of  the  masculine  gender, 
and  disposed  to  tire  of  womankind,  let  him  get  rid  of  all 
her  sex ;  banish  them  from  his  presence  for,  say,  a  period 
of  six  months.  Then,  if  at  the  end  of  that  time  his  heart 
does  not  fairly  leap  at  the  mere  sight  of  a  woman's 
skirts,  his  experience  will  be  far  different  from  what 
mine  has  been. 

One  night  in  February  a  poor  soldier  in  the  delirium 
of  typhoid  fever,  during  the  temporary  absence  of  the 
attendant,  got  up  from  his  cot,  slipped  out  of  the  door 
and,  on  the  return  of  the  nurse,  could  be  found  nowhere 
in  the  building.  Next  day  he  was  heard  of  at  his  com- 
pany quarters  in  a  distant  part  of  the  city,  to  which  he 
had  made  his  way  in  the  dead  of  night,  through  six 
inches  of  snow  with  the  delirium  of  a  burning  fever  upon 
him. 

About  the  middle  of  February  signs  of  spring  began 
to  show  themselves  in  that  genial  climate.  Grass  became 
green,  peach  trees  blossomed,  bees  came  out  and  birds 
came  around.  Sitting  on  the  upper  front  porch  one  day 
and  looking  toward  the  river,  not  many  rods  away,  two 
or  three  gunboats  were  seen  to  approach  the  little  village 
of  Hopedale,2  just  opposite  Memphis,  on  the  Arkansas 

2  Now  West  Memphis. 


"Poor  Hopedale."  63 

shore;  they  did  not  land,  but  pretty  soon  turned  away 
and  took  position  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  from  which 
point  a  number  of  shells  were  thrown  into  the  village 
and  soon  Hopedale  was  in  flames.  It  seemed  this  place 
had  been  a  sort  of  rallying  point  for  guerillas,  bush- 
whackers and  other  irregular  Confederate  soldiers  and 
to  stop  their  incursions  Hopedale  had  been  ordered 
burned,  after,  of  course,  first  warning  the  inhabitants. 
All  this  I  remember  reading  in  a  Memphis  daily  of  the 
time,  and  an  editorial  upon  it  closed  with  the  words: 
"Poor  Hopedale" — war's  fortunes  for  the  time  converted 
it  into  a  Hopeless-dale. 

Not  far  from  the  Arkansas  shore,  in  the  river,  were 
the  spars  and  rigging  of  the  sunken  General  Beauregard, 
a  Confederate  vessel  lost  in  the  naval  battle  before 
Memphis  in  June,  1862. 

As  the  beautiful  weather  of  spring  approached,  in 
leisure  hours  most  enjoyable  walks  were  taken  about  the 
city.  Nowhere  was  the  soft  spring  air  more  pleasure- 
giving  than  in  a  little  park  near  the  business  part  of  the 
city — name  forgotten.  In  this  was  a  statue  of  General 
Jackson,  having  engraved  upon  the  marble  pedestal  the 
hero's  well-known  words:  "The  Federal  Union — it  must 
and  shall  be  preserved!"  This  patriotic  sentiment  was 
too  much  for  the  eyes  of  some  miserable  vandal,  and  the 
word  "Federal"  had  been  obliterated  with  a  chisel  or 
other  sharp  tool. 

I  remember  frequent  attendance  at  an  Episcopal 
Church  in  the  city.  The  pastor  had  but  one  eye,  and 
was  a  very  plain  man  in  appearance,  but  was  an  able 
preacher,  Here  I  first  saw  General  J.  B.  McPherson. 
His  division  was  at  the  time  encamped  near  the  city,  and 
he  improved  the  opportunity  for  attendance  at  a  church 


64  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

which  is  said  to  be  a  favorite  denomination  with  regular 
army  officers.  His  handsome  person,  graceful  carriage 
and  affable  manners  are  well  remembered. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  winter  a  great  many  troops 
were  encamped  about  the  city.  Most  of  these  were  later 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg.  While  Sherman  was 
making  a  direct  attack  on  Vicksburg  by  the  river  in 
December,  1862,  Grant  was  moving  a  co-operating  force 
through  the  interior,  but  the  capture  of  his  supplies  at 
Holly  Springs,  December  29,  caused  an  abandonment  of 
the  co-operating  enterprise.  Grant  was  seriously  cen- 
sured at  the  time  by  many  in  his  own  department,  and  I 
remember  vigorously  defending  him  at  this  period  from 
the  charges  of  drunkenness,  incompetency,  etc.,  made  by 
a  fellow  soldier.  It  turned  out  that  the  abandonment  of 
the  line  intended  to  be  occupied  by  the  co-operating  col- 
umn was  fortunate,  as  the  subsequent  flooded  condition 
of  the  streams  would  have  made  the  escape  of  the  com- 
mand next  to  impossible. 

About  the  time  Grant  withdrew  from  this  line  there 
was  much  fear  of  an  attack  at  Memphis  from  the  Con- 
federates. One  day  a  comrade  came  running  into  quar- 
ters saying  General  Bragg  was  just  without  the  city  with 
an  army  of  ten  thousand  men,  and  had  demanded  its 
surrender.  I  was  at  that  time  in  the  ranks,  and,  like 
nearly  all  soldiers,  often  played  at  cards  for  pastime.  At 
this  very  juncture  I  had  in  my  breast  pocket  a  long-used 
pack  of  cards,  and,  of  course,  they  were  dirty  and  much 
soiled.  One  of  the  first  things  I  did  was  to  remove 
these,  for  how  would  it  sound  should  I  fall  in  battle  to 
have  it  said:  "In  his  breast  pocket  was  found" — not  the 
Bible  his  mother  handed  him  upon  leaving  home  and 


General  Grant  as  he  looked  during  the 
Vicksburg  Campaign. 


(See  page  68) 


— "But  a  Deck  of  Cards."  65 

bade  him  always  carry  in  his  knapsack,  nor  yet  the  pic- 
ture of  his  affianced — "but  a  deck  of  cards." 

Well,  the  cards  were  removed,  but  I  didn't  fall ;  didn't, 
indeed,  have  a  chance  to,  for  General  Bragg  didn't  come 
near,  nor  ask  the  surrender  of  the  city. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  VICKSBURG  CAMPAIGN. 

"With  mortal  heat  each  other  must  pursue; 

What  wounds,  what  slaughter  shall  ensue." 

— DRYDEN. 

VICKSBURG  was  called  the  Gibraltar  of  the  West.  It 
was  certainly  the  greatest  stronghold  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  and  after  the  fall  of  the  defenses  above  and  the 
capture  of  Forts  St.  Phillip  and  Jackson,  near  the  mouth, 
with  the  consequent  fall  of  New  Orleans,  Vicksburg  be- 
came the  key  to  the  further  obstruction  of  the  river  by 
the  Confederates.  After  the  failure  of  Sherman's  attack 
in  1862,  a  rendezvous  for  troops  was  made  at  Milliken's 
Bend,  La.,  twenty  miles  above  Vicksburg. 

After  the  non-success  of  various  plans  for  the  capture 
of  the  coveted  stronghold,  Grant,  in  the  spring  of  1863, 
resolved  to  get  position  on  the  river  below  by  marching 
his  army  across  the  peninsula,  in  Louisiana,  opposite 
Vicksburg,  formed  by  an  abrupt  bend  in  the  Mississippi. 
For  this  expedition  preparations  were  begun  in  March. 
Toward  the  latter  part  of  this  month  my  regiment  was 
ordered  aboard  a  boat  for  Vicksburg.  Getting  all  ready 
and  loaded  consumed  a  whole  day,  and  as  night  drew 
near  a  severe  snowstorm  came  up.  The  boat  got  under 
way  about  midnight.  Next  morning  the  storm  had  sub- 
sided and  the  sun  came  out  warm/  and  bright. 

On  the  way  several  gunboats  were  passed  and  always 

spoken  to  as  they  patrolled  the  river,  and  knew  points 

where  passing  vessels  were  most  liable  to  be  fired  into  by 

guerrillas.     The  sailors  on  the  gunboats  always  seemed 

(66) 


First  View  of  General  Grant.  67 

clean  and  well  dressed,  and  the  deck  and  all  parts  of  the 
vessel  in  sight  appeared  neat  and  orderly.  In  more  than 
one  instance,  too,  it  was  noticed  that  Jack,  having  just 
done  his  washing,  had  hung  it  out  to  dry  upon  a  line 
stretched  upon  the  gunboat  deck.  Most  of  the  gunboats 
were  heavily  mailed  with  iron,  hence  were  called  iron- 
clads. They  were  not  all  built  after  the  same  pattern, 
however. 

Another  kind  of  warlike  craft  were  the  tin-clads. 
These  were  ordinary  steamboats  protected  with  thin  iron 
plating  that  was  impervious  to  musket  balls.  These  were 
armed  with  several  light  pieces  of  artillery  and  manned 
with  a  number  of  sharp-shooters.  On  the  trip  down  the 
river  several  boats  laden  with  troops  were  encountered. 
Toward  noon  on  the  second  day  Milliken's  Bend,  twenty 
miles  above  Vicksburg,  on  the  Louisiana  side,  was 
reached,  and  here  our  regiment  debarked  and  went  into 
camp.  The  place  selected  was  near  the  levee  that  all 
along  the  lowlands  next  the  river  had  been  thrown  up  to 
protect  the  adjacent  plantations  in  time  of  high  water. 
In  many  places  these  had  broken,  and  nearly  the  whole 
region  was  inundated ;  the  bayous  and  lagoons  had,  mean- 
time, grown  into  inland  seas. 

April  9,  1863,  the  division  to  which  our  regiment  be- 
longed was  reviewed  by  General  Grant.  As  my  place 
was  not  then  in  the  ranks,  and  as  I  had  never  seen  that 
officer,  I  managed  to  get  a  good  view  of  him  while  he 
sat  on  his  horse,  attended  by  a  few  staff  officers.  As 
each  regiment  passed  the  officers  presented  their  swords, 
and  the  men  their  guns,  in  salutation;  and  Grant,  in 
recognition,  raised  his  hat.  During  the  following  three 
months  General  Grant  became  a  familiar  figure.  At  this 
time  he  appeared  a  little  heavier  than  the  average  man 


68  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

of  his  height,  and  was,  moreover,  a  little  stoop-shoul- 
dered. He  wore  a  short,  stubby,  slightly  reddish-brown 
beard,  and  his  whole  appearance  was  modest  and  unas- 
suming. 

From  the  lips  of  the  late  Reverend  W.  G.  Pierce,  who 
served  as  Chaplain  of  the  77th  Illinois  Infantry,  I  had 
the  following:  In  the  fall  of  1862  Grant's  army  was  in 
camp  for  a  time,  and  the  chaplains  of  a  certain  division 
were  desirous  of  holding  a  series  of  religious  meetings, 
but  the  weather  was  cool  and  the  men  did  not  like  to  sit 
out  in  the  open  during  services.  Nearby  was  a  typical 
Southern  "meeting-house,"  but  unfortunately  for  those 
interested,  it  was  occupied  by  General  Grant  for  his 
headquarters.  If  that  building  could  only  be  procured, 
the  meetings  could  be  held.  In  the  conference  that  was 
held  some  one  suggested  that  General  Grant  was  very 
obliging  and  maybe  could  be  induced  to  let  the  building 
be  used  as  desired,  and  finally  it  was  arranged  that 
Chaplain  Pierce  should  call  on  General  Grant  and  make 
known  the  wishes'  of  the  religious  people  in  the  division. 

With  a  good  deal  of  trepidation  the  errand  was  under- 
taken, and  when  its  object  was  made  known  to  General 
Grant  he  very  obligingly  said :  "Why,  yes,  Chaplain,  you 
can  just  as  well  have  this  building  as  not;  and  as  for  our 
things  in  here  now,  we  can  move  them  to  a  large  tent  we 
have."  General  Rawlins,  General  Grant's  chief -of -staff, 
overheard  the  conversation,  and  when  he  realized  what 
was  about  to  be  done  began  making  the  air  blue  with 
oaths;  and,  meantime,  paid  his  peculiar  respects  to 
the  division  chaplains  as  only  he  could  do.  With  a  quiet 
smile  General  Grant  said:  "Never  mind,  Chaplain,  we 
keep  Rawlins  here  to  do  our  swearing."  Then  reaching 
for  pen  and  paper  he  wrote  an  order  directing  that  the 


A  Chaplain's  Story.  69 

church  be  vacated,  and  that  it  be  put  at  the  service  of 
the  chaplains,  of  the  division.1 

In  our  Hospital  department  a  large  tent  had  been  put 
up,  and  in  this,  upon  cots,  the  sick  were  made  as  com- 
fortable as  possible.  One  thing  they  certainly  had  in 
abundance  was  fresh  air.  The  water  used  came  from 
the  Mississippi,  which  at  the  time  was  very  high,  and 
there  was  so  much  sediment  that  a  bucket  dipped  in  the 
current  would  be  filled  with  water  which,  after  standing 
for  a  time,  would  have  more  than  an  inch  of  "settlings" 
in  the  bottom.  But  the  natives  insisted  Mississippi  River 
water  was  healthy,  and  after  sedimentation  it  was  cer- 
tainly pleasant  to  drink. 

Pretty  soon  after  the  "review"  came  an  order  to  move 
— "marching  orders."  The  sick  were  directed  to  be  all 
taken  to  a  hospital  boat,  by  which  they  would  be  taken 
up  the  river.  Accordingly,  they  were  put  in  ambulances 
and  taken  to  the  place  designated. 

I  have  several  times  made  use  of  the  word  ambulance ; 
this,  to  the  reader  whose  memory  does  not  reach  back  to 
Civil  War  time,  may  need  explanation.  An  ambulance, 
then,  is  simply  a  light  vehicle  on  springs  with  a  shallow 
bed  and  a  strong  canvas  cover  overhead.  The  back  end 
gate  worked  on  hinges  at  the  bottom,  so  it  could  be  in- 
stantly let  down  and  the  very  sick,  or  badly  injured, 
slipped  out,  and  not  lifted  over  avoidable  obstructions. 
(See  pages  133,  134.) 

As  before  said,  the  sick  were  put  into  ambulances,  such 
as  were  able  sitting  on  their  rolled  up  blankets,  those  very 
sick  lying  upon  theirs,  spread  out.  A  train  of  ambu- 


1  This  anecdote  has  never  before  been  in  print  and  its  truth 
can  be  vouched  for. — C.  B.  J. 


70  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

lances,  loaded  with  sick,  made  a  dreary  procession,  but 
at  the  head  of  one  of  these  it  was  my  duty  to  lead  the 
way  to  a  hospital  boat,  named,  if  my  memory  serves 
me  well,  the  D.  A.  January.  Each  sick  man,  when  taken 
aboard,  had  his  name  checked.  The  name,  rank,  com- 
pany, regiment,  brigade,  etc.,  were  given  carefully  to  the 
authorities  on  the  boat. 

After  the  sick  were  aboard  and  made  comfortable,  I 
took  occasion  to  look  about  the  boat  and  was  much 
pleased.  Although  I  had  frequently  visited  the  well-kept 
general  hospitals  of  Memphis,  never  had  I  seen  all  ar- 
rangements for  the  sick  so  comfortable  and  convenient. 
Then  the  constant  moving  of  the  boat,  insuring  continu- 
ous change  of  air,  could  not  fail  to  be  specially  beneficial. 

About  the  middle  of  April  the  whole  command  broke 
camp  and  started  on  the  march.  Our  regiment  was 
brigaded  with  five  or  six  others,  and  had  been  assigned 
to  General  A.  J.  Smith's  Division  of  the  Thirteenth 
Army  Corps. 

A  brigade  was  made  up  of  from  three  to  six  or  seven 
regiments;  a  division  of  from  two  to  four  or  five 
brigades,  and  an  army  corps  of  from  two  to  five  divi- 
sions. 

Every  regiment  had  two  or  three  ambulances  to  carry 
the  sick  or  disabled,  several  wagons  to  haul  the  tents  and 
other  camp  equipage.  As  the  war  progressed,  however, 
and  the  men  gained  experience  in  the  field,  the  amount 
of  baggage  was  reduced  to  a  minimum,  and  every  man 
found  it  to  his  advantage  to  get  along  with  the  least  pos- 
sible in  the  way  of  clothing  while  in  the  field. 

To  each  brigade  was  attached  a  battery.  These,  when 
complete,  had  six  cannon  and  six  caissons — ammunition 
wagons — to  each  of  which  were  attached  six  horses.  It 


On  the  March.  71 


will  be  thus  seen  that  a  division,  with  its  men  marching 
in  not  very  close  ranks,  its  ambulances,  wagons,  batteries, 
etc.,  necessarily  occupied  a  good  deal  of  space  when  on 
the  road.  But,  in  addition,  there  was  always  a  train  of 
wagons  besides,  containing  provisions,  ammunition  and 
necessary  extra  supplies. 

To  get  this  long  line  of  men,  wagons,  batteries,  etc.,  in 
proper  order  and  in  motion  was  no  little  task,  and  often 
consumed  no  little  time  and  necessitated  many  false 
starts  and  sudden  halts.  To  all  this,  however,  the  men 
soon  became  accustomed,  and  in  a  little  while  made  good 
use  of  every  halt  by  taking  all  the  rest  thus  afforded, 

Most  of  the  section  of  country  traversed  was  low,  and 
the  roads,  when  not  overflown,  were  either  quite  muddy 
or  else  very  rough.  Indeed,  in  many  places  roads  had 
to  be  made  and  bridges  built;  frequently,  however,  the 
road  ran  along  the  top  of  the  levee,  as  before  stated. 
The  first  day's  march  took  the  command  to  Richmond, 
La.,  a  small  town  nearly  west  of  Vicksburg,  and  the  next 
to  Holmes'  plantation,  a  large  tract  of  land  belonging  to 
General  Holmes  of  the  Confederate  Army.  Here  a  stop 
of  several  days  was  made,  and  from  a  letter  written  by 
me  Sunday,  April  19,  the  following  extract  is  made: 

"There  are  a  great  many  fine  plantations  through  here ; 
indeed,  through  this  part  of  the  country  there  is  nothing 
else  but  fine  ones.  Most  of  these  have  from  thirty  to 
fifty  negro  houses  (quarters)  on  them.  The  planter 
usually  lives  in  a  one-story  house  with  porches  all  around 
it.  The  plantations,  though,  are  mostly  deserted,  only  a 
few  negroes  remaining.  It  has  been  only  three  or  four 
weeks  since  the  first  Federal  troops  came  in  here.  One 
month  ago  the  Secesh  thought  they  were  entirely  safe 
here,  but  they  were  mistaken. 


72  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

"Corn  (April  19)  is  six  inches  high  and  has  been 
plowed  once ;  the  forest  is  as  green  as  it  will  be  this  year ; 
roses  and  nearly  all  flowers  are  in  full  bloom. 

"We  are  now  encamped  on  a  plantation  owned  by  a 
man  named  Holmes — now  a  General  in  the  Secesh  Army. 
This  place  contains  nine  hundred  acres,  and  is  the  small- 
est of  four  belonging  to  Holmes.  He  also  owns  four 
steamboats  on  the  Mississippi  River.  On  this  plantation 
is  a  fine  mill.  Down  here  they  have  cotton-gins,  grist 
and  sawmills  all  unden  one  roof." 

The  night  of  April  16,  1863,  the  six  gunboats,  Benton, 
Louisville,  Lafayette,  Mound  City  and  Carondolet,  and 
the  three  transports,  Forest  Queen,  Silver  Wave  and 
Henry  Clay,  ran  by  the  Vicksburg  batteries — ran  the 
blockade,  as  we  put  it.  The  transports  were  loaded  with 
army  stores ;  their  boilers  were  protected  with  cotton 
bales  and  bales  of  hay,  and  each  had  in  tow  one  or  more 
barges  loaded  with  coal.  Every  vessel  was  struck  a  num- 
ber of  times,  but  none,  save  the  Henry  Clay,  received 
vital  injury. 

Regarding  this  occurrence  the  following  extract  is 
taken  from  a  letter  of  April  19,  1863,  also  written  at 
Holmes'  plantation,  about  twenty  miles  west  of  Vicks- 
burg: 

"We  are  to  march  again  in  a  few  days ;  are  going  to 
Carthage,  which  is  on  the  river  below  Vicksburg,  Most 
of  the  heavy  things,  such  as  large  tents,  commissary 
stores,  etc.,  were  taken  aboard  transports  to  be  conveyed 
down  the  river.  These,  of  course,  had  to  run  the  block- 
ade at  Vicksburg,  and  this  they  did  last  Thursday  night 
(April  16).  There  were  six  gunboats  and  three  trans- 
ports. We  heard  the  firing  very  distinctly.  One  trans- 
port was  burned." 


U.  S.  Army  Hospital  Steamer  "D.  A.  January."     (From 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  Civil  War.) 


Interior  of  Hospital  Boat.     Cots  made-up  for 
reception  of  patients. 

(See  page  70) 


Bellowing  Alligators.  73 

Our  regiment,  in  common  with  the  division,  received 
marching  orders  the  evening  of  April  24,  and  about  8 
o'clock  at  night  got  under  way.  The  roads  were  rough 
and  the  night  was  dark,  consequently  one's  footing  was 
most  uncertain.  In  the  bayous  all  about,  the  alligators 
made  night  hideous  with  their  bellowing.  All  night  our 
regiment  marched,  and  next  morning  at  6  o'clock  pulled 
up  at  Smith's  plantation,  two  and  one-half  miles  from 
New  Carthage.  Here  our  division  went  into  camp,  and, 
although  two  or  three  miles  from  the  river,  several 
steamboats  came  in  on  a  bayou  and  were  near  camp  for 
a  day  or  so. 

Having  met  with  such  success  running  the  blockade 
the  night  of  April  16,  the  Federals  resolved  to  attempt 
it  again,  consequently  the  next  week  a  number  of  trans- 
ports were  loaded  with  stores,  and  with  their  boilers  and 
machinery  well  protected  with  baled  hay  and  cotton, 
again  ran  the  blockade,  losing  only  one  vessel,  the 
Tigress,  if  the  writer's  memory  serves  him  well.  The 
boats  that  came  to  Smith's  plantation  had  been  struck  in 
a  number  of  places,  and  had  portions  of  their  pilot-houses 
shot  away.  One  boat  was  the  Hiawatha  and  the  other 
the  Silver  Wave. 

While  at  Smith's  plantation  quite  a  little  sensation  was 
created  by  reason  of  one  of  the  soldiers  receiving  an 
accidental  shot.  Upon  examination,  however,  it  proved! 
to  be  of  little  danger,  though  received  in  the  neck ;  it  was 
from  a  revolver  shot  of  such  small  caliber  that  but  little 
injury  was  inflicted.  This  was  Sunday,  and  is  remem- 
bered as  a  warm,  sultry  day,  the  sun  at  one  time  shining; 
bright,  at  another  passing  behind  clouds.  A  little  while 
before  night  orders  came  to  pack  up  and  go  on  the 
march  at  once.  The  night  was  intensely  dark,  and  soon 


74  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

a  drizzling  rain  began  falling,  but  the  men  marched  along; 
as  merry  as  could  be,  singing,  whistling  and  cracking 
jokes.  But,  after  a  time,  the  pitchy  darkness,  wetting 
rain  and  rough  roads  took  the  merriment  out  of  every- 
one, and  the  march  was  continued  till  about  1  or  2 
o'clock  A.M.,  when  our  regiment  was  halted  by  the  side 
of  a  rail  fence,  and  in  a  little  time  I  was  sleeping  sweetly 
on  two  fence  rails  for,  perhaps,  two  hours  and  a  half, 
when  some  coffee  was  hastily  made  and  drank,  and  the 
march  resumed  at  daylight.  It  still  rained,  and  the  roads 
were  horrible,  but  the  march  was  kept  up  all  day,  while 
the  weather  continued  cloudy  and  rain  fell  at  intervals. 
The  country  passed  through  was  uninviting,  and  the  bad 
roads  and  unpleasant  day  make  the  memory  of  this  time 
anything  but  pleasant.  Wagons  and  artillery  stalled,  and 
horses  and  mules  mired  down,  and  all  had  to  be  pulled 
and  lifted  out  by  hand. 

Night  at  last  came,  and  I  remember  feeling  too  tired 
even  to  sleep.  Coffee  was  made  and  plenty  of  this  drank, 
and  in  a  short  time  renewed  strength  seemed  to  come. 
With  the  coffee  was  eaten  hard  bread  and  salt  pork. 
The  pork  was  cut  in  thin  slices,  one  of  which  was  put 
on/  the  end  of  a  sharp-pointed  stick  and  toasted.  When 
one  had  marched  all  day  this  was  eaten  with  relish,  as 
was  the  hard  bread  that,  in  camp,  was  most  unpalatable. 
The  ground  was  wet  and  thoroughly  saturated  with 
water,  and  to  meet  this  condition  of  things,  little  boughs 
were  broken  off  the  trees  and  thrown  on  the  ground; 
upon  these,  rubber  and  woolen  blankets  were  spread,  and 
the  sweetest  sleep  imaginable  obtained. 

The  sun  came  out  bright  and  warm  next  day,  and  for 
a  long  distance  the  road  lay  along  the  west  bank  of  Lake 
St.  Joseph,  a  most  beautiful  sheet  of  water,  said  to  have 


The  "Sunny  South."  75 

been  once  the  bed  of  the  Mississippi.  Upon  the  borders 
of  this  lake  were  several  handsome  residences.  Two  of 
unusual  elegance  are  in  particular  called  to  mind;  one 
belonged  to  a  Dr.  Bowie,  and  was  furnished  in  most 
elaborate  style.  This,  as  well  as  the  other  fine  residences, 
was  vacated  by  the  owner.  The  Bowie  house  was 
burned,  some  weeks  later,  about  the  time  Sherman's 
corps  came  through  that  region. 

Along  the  lake's  western  bank  the  road  wound  in  front 
of  most  delightful  homes,  while  its  eastern  shore  was 
overhung  by  noble  forest  trees,  and  these  had  long  fes- 
toons of  moss  hanging  gracefully  from  their  boughs. 
Many  flowers,  shrubs  and  trees  were  seen  with  which 
Northern  eyes  were  unfamiliar;  these  gave  the  region  a 
half  tropical  appearance.  In  this  delightful  spot,  with 
the  air  soft,  balmy  and  filled  with  the  fragrance  of 
flowers,  birds  singing,  and  so  much  to  please  the  senses, 
I  thought  I  never  had  looked  upon  so  much  of  blooming, 
sunny,  delicious,  glorious  nature.  It  was,  indeed,  a  per- 
fect specimen  of  the  Sunny  South — a  real  little  para- 
dise, and  as  such  was,  no  doubt,  regarded  by  its  wealthy 
residents,  who  only  a  few  weeks  before  felt  as  secure 
from  invasion  as  the  residents  of  the  North. 

The  region  being  in  a  great  degree  isolated,  in  a  low 
level  section  of  country  that  had  to  be  protected  from 
overflow  by  levees  was,  particularly  in  a  season  remark- 
able for  high  water,  deemed  safe  from  all  invasion,  if 
not,  indeed,  proof  against  it.  But  the  persistent  Grant 
had  decreed  it  otherwise,  and  now  long  and  formidable 
columns  of  energetic  and  hardy  Northerners  were  mak- 
ing their  way  through  the  very  heart  of  this  enchanting 
country. 


76  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

So  impenetrable  was  the  locality  deemed  by  the  Con- 
federates that  Pemberton,  it  was  said,  to  the  last  per- 
sisted in  the  belief  that  the  movement  was  not  in  force 
and  was  only  a  feint,  and  intended  as  a  diversion  from 
a  serious  attack  on  Vicksburg  from  some  other  quarter. 

The  29th  of  April  the  Mississippi  was  reached  at  Hard 
Times  Landing,  nearly  opposite  Grand  Gulf.  Just  below 
the  latter  place  is  De  Shroon's  plantation,  and  thither  the 
column  marched  after  a  short  stop  at  Hard  Times.  The 
line  led  in  sight  of  Grand  Gulf,  into  which  our  gunboats 
were  seen  throwing  shells ;  the  firing  was  very  deliberate, 
and  at  the  time  was  not  responded  to  by  the  Confed- 
erates. The  navy,  however,  failed  to  reduce  the  works. 

About  10,000  troops,  belonging  to  the  Thirteenth 
Corps,  had  gone  aboard  transports  at  New  Carthage, 
some  twenty  or  thirty  miles  above.  A  landing  place  for 
these  was  sought  above  Grand  Gulf,  on  the  Mississippi 
side,  but  none  being  found,  they  debarked  at  Hard  Times 
after  nightfall,  and  quietly  marched  across  the  peninsula, 
on  the  Louisiana  shore,  opposite  the  rebel  stronghold. 

Meantime,  the  navy  engaged  the  Confederate  batteries, 
during  which  the  loaded  transports  ran  by.  My  regi- 
ment was  encamped  a  few  miles  below,  and  the  can- 
nonading made  a  terrific  noise.  Whether  it  came  from 
the  heavy  caliber  of  the  guns  engaged  or  from  the 
peculiar  state  of  atmosphere,  I  cannot  say,  but  never  did 
the  terrific  din  of  cannonading  strike  my  ears  with  such 
force.  Every  shot,  too,  seemed  to  have  a  peculiar  ring- 
ing sound  that  was  piercing  in  its  effects  upon  the  organs 
of  hearing.  As  before  stated,  my  regiment  encamped  the 
night  of  the  29th  of  April  at  De  Shroon's  plantation, 
below  Grand  Gulf,  on  the  river. 


Crossing  the  Mississippi.  77 

Very  early  on  the  morning  of  April  30  the  gunboats 
and  transports,  both  alive  with  soldiers,  were  seen  on 
the  river.  These  moved  over  towards  the  Mississippi 
shore,  and  I  remember  almost  shuddering  with  fear  lest 
they  would  be  fired  into  from  the  adjoining  hills.  The 
boats  all  moved  down  the  river  about  six  miles  and 
landed  at  Bruinsburg. 

The  Hospital  department  of  our  regiment  did  not  go 
aboard  a  boat  till  near  nightfall,  and  having  been  in- 
formed that  all  would  remain  on  board  over  night,  and 
feeling  much  fatigued,  I,  beside  a  companion,  stretched 
myself  upon  two  cotton  bales  lying  side  by  side  and  slept 
sweetly  till  early  dawn,  when  it  was  found  that  the  boat, 
having  dropped  down  the  river  during  the  night,  was  then 
tied  up  at  Bruinsburg.  Word  was  received  to  join  our 
regiment  at  once,  then  in  line  upon  the  shore  and  ready 
to  march  inland,  where  it  was  said  a  battle  was  already 
in  progress. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

OUR  FIRST  BATTLE. 

"The  midnight  brought  the  signal-sound  of  strife; 
The  morn  the  marshaling  in  arms — " 

— BYRON. 

WHILE  the  fleet  of  gunboats  under  Commodore  Porter 
at  Grand  Gulf,  below  Vicksburg,  engaged  the  enemy,  and 
McClearnand's  corps  was  seeking  a  landing  nearby,  upon 
the  same  date,  April  29,  1863,  Sherman  debarked  ten 
regiments  above  Vicksburg  on  Yazoo  River  at  Haines' 
Bluff,  as  if  to  attack  the  latter  place,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  was  bombarded  by  eight  gunboats. 

The  whole  demonstration  at  Haines'  Bluff,  however, 
was  only  a  feint  intended  to  confuse  the  enemy  and 
divert  his  attention  from  the  real  point  of  atack  at  Grand 
Gulf. 

The  Thirteenth  Corps  effected  a  landing  at  Bruins- 
burg,  Miss.,  April  30,  and  early  on  the  morning  of  May 
1  met  most  of  Grand  Gulf  Garrison  (Confederate)  un- 
der General  Bowen,  seven  miles  inland  from  Bruinsburg 
and  within  five  miles  of  Port  Gibson,  the  most  important 
town  in  that  vicinity  and  located  on  Bayou  Pierre.  The 
Federals  were  upon  the  southern  side  of  this  stream.  To 
reach  them  the  Grand  Gulf  Garrison  had  to  cross  the 
bayou  and,  as  the  water  in  the  stream  was  at  the  time 
high,  they  were  obliged  to  go  to  the  only  bridge  in  the 
vicinity,  namely,  the  one  at  Port  Gibson,  but  much  out 
of  their  way. 

It  had  been  the  hope  of  the  Federals  to  secure  pos- 
session of  this  bridge  before  the  arrival  of  the  Confed- 
(78) 


We  Lose  Our  Cash.  79 

crates ;  and  it  was  the  hope  of  the  latter  to  meet  the  in- 
vading column  at  or  very  near  the  landing  place,  Bruins- 
burg. 

But  neither  side  had  its  wish  gratified;  the  Confed- 
erates reached  the  bridge  at  Port  Gibson,  crossed  upon 
it,  and  pushed  five  miles  beyond  toward  the  river,  when 
their  further  course  was  interrupted  by  the  Federals  in 
force  on  high  ground.  So  much  for  what  immediately 
preceded  the  battle  of  Port  Gibson.  As  narrated  in  the 
previous  chapter,  the  night  of  April  30  I  had  slept  beside 
a  companion  aboard  a  river  boat  upon  two  bales  of  cot- 
ton, and  at  early  dawn,  next  morning,  went  ashore  with 
this  companion  and  joined  our  regiment,  then  falling  in 
line  two  or  three  hundred  yards  distant.  I  had  just 
reached  our  regiment  when,  putting  my  hand  in  my 
pocket,  I  found  that  three  or  four  dollars  in  money,  all 
I  had,  was  gone.  I  spoke  of  my  misfortune,  and  re- 
ceived a  lecture  from  Wigton,  my  companion  of  the  night 
previous,  and  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  my  senior. 

"Just  like  you,"  he  began;  "always  losing  something. 
Your  carelessness  will  be  the  ruin  of  you  yet.  I'm 
thinkin'  you'll  lose  your  head  one  of  these  days." 

As  the  firing  from  the  battle,  then  in  progress  a  few 
miles  away,  could  already  be  heard,  the  last  and  greatest 
accident  was  not  at  all  an  impossibility. 

However,  as  the  command  was  in  the  heart  of  the 
enemy's  country  and  was  just  on  the  point  of  cutting 
loose  from  its  base  of  supplies,  I  felt  as  though  I  could 
not  give  up  my  lost  money  without  making  an  effort  to 
find  it.  Learning  that  a  few  moments  would  elapse 
before  the  command  would  start,  I  ran  back  to  the  boat, 
made  my  way  to  the  bales  of  cotton,  and  turning  them 
about,  had  stooped  over  and  was  looking  around  care- 


80  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

fully,  thinking  maybe  the  pocketbook  had  slipped  from 
my  pocket,  when  a  voice  just  behind  was  heard  calling 
my  name,  and  asking: 

"Have  you  found  your  pocketbook?  I  declare,  mine's 
gone,  too." 

Looking  up,  who  did  I  see  but  Wigton,  my  comrade 
of  the  night  previous,  who  only  a  moment  before  was 
chiding  me  for  my  ill-fortune  and  negligence.  It  was 
clear  now  that]  someone  had  stolen  both  pocketbooks 
while  their  owners  slept. 

The  joke  on  Wigton,  however,  was  too  good  to  keep, 
and  it  was  many  a  day  before  his  companions  let  him 
hear  the  last  of  it.  Poor  Wigton;  his  beard  was  quite 
gray,  and,  for  one  in  active  service,  he  was  quite  old,  but 
he  was  a  brave,  true  soldier,  and  when  last  seen  was  very 
lame  and  hobbling  about  on  crutches  with  a  prospect  of 
remaining  so  from  a  wound  received  in  the  Red  River 
Expedition  in  the  spring  of  1864. 

Just  before  starting  on  the  march  each  man  received 
in  his  canteen  a  little  whiskey.  The  regiment  had  never 
been  in  battle,  and  whether  this  was  given  to  supply  them 
with  extra  courage  or  whether  it  was  thought  the  en- 
forced march  about  to  be  entered  upon  required  the  use 
of  stimulants,  is  not  known.  But  whatever  the  intention 
may  have  been,  no  good  came  from  the  whiskey,  and 
before  night  several  in  our  regiment  were  foolishly  drunk. 
When  all  was  ready  we  started  off  at  a  brisk  pace  to- 
ward the  rising  sun,  just  visible  through  the  tree-tops, 
For  two  miles  the  road  ran  through  the  river  bottom, 
then  up  a  long  hill  of  red  clay,  next  by  quiet  farm- 
houses and  cultivated  fields,  through  pretty  wooded 
groves  and  up  quiet  lanes,  all  bearing  the  marks  of  peace, 


A  Wounded  Confederate.  81 

and  resting  in  supposed  security  from  the  inroads  .of 
invading  armies. 

The  boom)  of  cannon  could  be  heard,  and  after  awhile 
the  rattle  of  musketry;  this  excited  the  men,  and  they 
marched  the  faster.  As  the  morning  advanced  it  became 
very  warm  and  many  threw  away  knapsacks,  overcoats 
and  anything  and  everything  that  impeded  progress  to- 
ward the  sounds  of  battle  in  front. 

By  and  by,  towards  noon,  a  field  hospital  at  the  road- 
side was  reached,  and  here  a  stalwart  soldier,  with  his 
arm  in  a  sling,  and  the  bright  blood  oozing  through  the 
bandages  over  a  wound  on  his  breast  otherwise  bare, 
came  and  stood  by  the  roadside  and  watched  the  re-en- 
forcements go  forward.  His  was  the  first  blood  I  saw 
flow  from  a  Confederate  bullet. 

Other  field  hospitals  were  soon  passed,  and  after  a  lit- 
tle, fences  thrown  down,  corn  fields  tracked  over,  and 
everything  disarranged  and  tramped  upon,  told  that  large 
bodies  of  men  had  been  deployed  and  advanced  over  that 
ground  earlier  in  the  day.  A  little  ahead  broken  wheels 
and  dismounted  cannon,  and  now  and  then  a  dead  soldier, 
with  here  and  there  a  disemboweled  horse,  showed  that 
the  advance  of  the  Federals  had  met  with  resistance. 
Next  the  road  ran  down  a  hill  and  into  the  timber ;  here 
the  command  halted  for  a  few  moments,  and  I  stepped 
aside  to  see  some  Federal  surgeons  dressing  the  wounds 
of  a  young  Confederate  soldier.  He  was  a  stout-built 
young  fellow,  but  was  pale  and  seemed  exhausted  from 
loss  of  blood.  He  was  suffering  from  a  large  flesh 
wound  in  the  calf  of  the  leg. 

Our  regiment  was  ordered  to  make  some  coffee  andi 
have  dinner,  and  then  move  to  the  front,  This  done, 
the  knapsacks  were  piled  up  and  left  in  care  of  a  guard, 

6 


82  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

and  then  the  command  turned  to  the  left  of  the  main 
road,  passed  forward  through  corn  fields,  and,  at  last, 
halted  a  little  way  from  the  top  of,  and  partly  down  a 
hill,  in  a  field  of  growing  corn. 

At  this  time  the  firing  on  this  part  of  the  field  was 
desultory,  bullets  whistling  past  all  the  while,  but  no 
volleys  were  fired.  Two  hundred  yards  in  front  of  our 
regiment  was  a  branch  and  beyond  was  a  cane-brake 
and  thick  timber.  We  were  resting  quietly,  facing  the 
cane-brake,  when  all  at  once  without  warning,  a  volley 
of  bullets  struck  the  ground  all  about  us,  but,  strange 
to  say,  only  one  man  was  wounded,  and  he,  in  the  hand, 
but  slightly.  Although  the  volley  did  so  little  execution 
the  men  were  much  excited  and  wanted  to  fire  in  return, 
but  this  was  forbidden  by  the  officers. 

At  this  juncture  some  one  from  the  top  of  the  hill 
cried  out:  "Shell  the  woods,"  and  in  less  time  than  it 
takes  to  tell  it  our  brigade  battery  was  brought  to  the 
top  of  the  hill  and  was  soon  throwing  grape  and  cannis- 
ter  over  the  heads  of  our  regiment  into  the  dense  timber 
beyond. 

As  soon  as  the  battery  ceased  firing  the  wounded  man 
was  turned  over  to  me  to  be  taken  back  to  our  first  aid 
station  under  the  charge  of  First  Assistant  Surgeon 
David  Wilkins,  and  located  just  back  of  the  firing-line. 
Proceeding  on  this  errand,  I  reached  the  top  of  the  hill 
from  which  our  brigade  battery,  the  Chicago  Mercan- 
tile, for  a  few  moments  shelled  the  woods  in  our 
front,  when  along  came  three  mounted  officers,  who 
proved  to  be  General  Grant,  Commander  of  the  Army  of 
the  Tennessee;  General  John  A.  McClernand,  Com- 
mander of  the  Thirteenth  Army  Corps,  of  which  we 
were  an  integral  part;  and  General  John  A.  Logan  in 


A  Swearing  General.  83 

command  of  a  division  in  the  Seventeenth  Army  Corps, 
and  now  known  as  the  "Prince  of  Volunteer  Soldiers." 
No  sooner  had  these  officers  reached  the  rear  of  the 
Mercantile  Battery  than  General  Logan  raised  in  his 
stirrups,  and  in  a  clarion  voice  demanded : 

"Who  in  the  h — 1  and  d — nation  ordered  that  battery 
to  fire  on  that  timber?  My  division  is  over  there,  and 
by I'll  hold  somebody  responsible  for  this!" 

No  one  gave  answer  to  General  Logan's  red-hot  in- 
quiry, and  in  a  moment  he,  General  McClernand  and 
General  Grant,  rode  out  of  sight.  After  properly  dispos- 
ing of  the  wounded  man  I  turned  about  to  return  to  the 
front  and  came  upon  the  dead  body  of  an  artilleryman 
who  had  fallen  in  the  very  spot  I  had  occupied  a  moment 
before.  Passing  on,  I  found  my  regiment  had  advanced, 
and  going  forward  over  a  hill,  a  bullet  struck  a  young 
sycamore  not  far  from  my  head.  Later,  we  learned  that 
Confederate  sharp-shooters  took  position  in  trees,  where 
they  were  protected  by  the  foliage,  and  picked  off 
any  of  our  men  who  came  in  sight,  and,  doubtless,  one 
of  these  drew  a  bead  on  me  as  I  was  crossing  the  brow 
of  the  hill. 

Advancing,  I  came  upon  a  regiment  part  of  the  way 
down  hill,  and  in  their  front  shells  from  the  enemy's 
cannon  were  falling,  and  could  be  seen  coming  through 
the  air.  The  sun  was  getting  low,  and  I  had  not  yet 
reached  my  regiment  when  I  came  upon  four  men  carry- 
ing a  stretcher  upon  which  was  Captain  W.  H.  Johnson1 
of  our  regiment,  who  had  received  an  ugly  flesh  wound 
in  the  gluteal  region  from  a  cannister  shot.  The  party 

1  Captain  W.  H.  Johnson,  Company  H,  139th  Illinois  Infantry 
Volunteers. 


84  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

was  conducted  to  a  farm-house,  where  the  wounded  man 
was  made  comfortable,  and  later  reached  his  regiment  at 
Vicksburg,  meantime  making  a  good  recovery  from  his 
injury. 

The  country  all  about  Grand  Gulf,  Miss,,  is  hilly  and 
broken  up  into  ravines  and  hollows.  A  little  west  of 
Port  Gibson  the  road  to  the  river  divides,  and  two  road- 
ways, for  a  number  of  miles,  follow  along  two  lines  of 
ridges. 

Upon  either  of  these  roads  General  Bowen,  in  com- 
mand of  the  Confederate  forces,  took  position  five  miles 
from  Port  Gibson  the  night  of  April  30,  1863.  Here  he 
encountered  the  Federals  May  1,  was  driven  back  with 
considerable  loss,  and  just  before  night  made  a  stand 
with  a  small  part  of  his  force  two  miles  f romi  Port  Gib- 
son, while  his  main  army  retreated.  During  the  night  of 
May  1  the  last  Confederate  withdrew  beyond  Bayou 
Pierre,  and  the  bridge  behind  was  burned. 

The  same  night  the  Federals  slept  on  their  arms,  with 
orders  to  renew  the  conflict  early  in  the  morning.  When 
morning  came,  however,  it  was  found  there  was  no 
enemy  near. 

The  night  of  May  1,  1863,  is  as  indelibly  impressed  on 
my  memory  as  the  previous  day's  battle.  Through  the 
day  the  excitement,  the  novelty  of  being  for  the  first 
time  under  fire,  the  many  strange  and  interesting  things 
incident  to  battle,  made  the  whole  experience  rather 
pleasurable  than  otherwise.  But  night  brought  anything 
but  pleasurable  experiences.  As  before  stated,  the  knap- 
sacks, blankets  and  all  of  the  kind  had  been  left  behind. 
And  as  the  nights  in  the  South,  even  in  the  warmest 
weather,  are  cool,  much  discomfort  was  experienced  for 
want  of  something  in  the  way  of  covering.  A  rubber 


"Glory"  from  a  I  A.M.  Viewpoint.       85 

blanket  was  shared  with  a  companion,  but  this  seemed  to 
catch  all  the  dew  and  moisture  there  was  in  the  atmos- 
phere, and  from  its  surface  was  absorbed  by  one's  cloth- 
ing. Under  the  circumstances  sleep  was  broken,  and  in 
wakeful  hours  my  mind  naturally  dwelt  upon  the  horrible 
in  the  previous  day's  history.  Thoughts  something  as 
follows  had  free  course  through  my  brain: 

"Well,  our  regiment  for  six  months  has  been  wanting 
to  be  in  a  battle,  and  now  it's  been  in  one,  and  not  a  hard 
one  either ;  but  there  is  probably  not  a  man  but  next  time 
will  cheerfully  take  some  other  fellow's  word  for  it  and 
stay  out  himself,  if  he  can  do  so  honorably.  Then  those 
dead  fellows  were  lying  beside  the  road  just  like  they 
were  slaughtered  hogs  or  sheep!  And  besides,  how 
piteously  the  wounded  moaned,  and  how  horrible  their 
poor  maimed  limbs  and  gaping  wounds  looked.  There 
may  be  lots  of  glory  in  war,  but  it  isn't  so  radiant  nor 
very  apparent  at  about  1  o'clock  the  next  morning  after 
a  battle." 

However,  the  morning's  sun  of  May  2  came  up  warm, 
bright  and  beautiful ;  some  strong  coffee  was  taken,  when 
word  came  in  that  the  Confederates  were  badly  defeated 
the  day  before,  and  had  all  retired  from  our  front;  and 
that  we  were  to  follow  immediately.  At  this  time  a 
young  Confederate  soldier  turned  up,  but  from  just 
where  no  one  knew.  One  of  our  surgeons,  however, 
tapped  him  on  the  shoulder,  saying:  "You  are  my  pris- 
oner." He,  like  Barkis,  was  "willin',"  and  was  at  once 
turned  over  to  the  proper  authorities. 

All  fell  in  line  and  were  soon  on  the  road  to  Port  Gib- 
son. A  little  way  along  the  route,  the  place  where  the 
Confederates  made  their  last  stand  was  seen;  this  was 
at  the  top  of  a  hill.  By  the  roadside,  near  a  pile  of , 


86  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

rails,  lay  a  dead  Confederate,  He  seemed  to  have  been 
a  tall,  lanky  fellow,  a  typical  specimen,  and  though  the 
weather  was  as  warm  as  June  in  the  North,  there  was 
yet  on  his  head  a  heavy  fur  cap.  A  little  farther  on, 
under  a  mulberry  tree,  lay  the  body  of  a  good-looking 
young  Confederate.  He  was  rotund  in  figure,  and  had 
on  what  seemed  to  be  a  new  suit  of  gray  jeans.  Already 
the  blue  flies  were  hovering  about  the  dead  body;  but  his 
late  enemies,  thus  soon  becoming  familiar  with  violent 
forms  of  death,  complacently  gathered  mulberries  from 
the  tree  above  him.  Most  of  the  Confederate  dead  were 
said  to  have  been  collected  before  the  retreat  and  buried 
in  a  ravine.  Those  seen  were  what  fell  from  the  few 
left  behind  to  cover  the  retreat.  Thus,  a  few  scattered 
dead  Federal  soldiers  by  the  roadside  were  seen  when 
coming  upon  the  battlefield  eighteen  hours  before,  and 
now  several  Confederate  dead,  fallen  by  the  wayside, 
were  come  upon  when  leaving  the  field  of  strife — a  few 
falling  rain-drops  precede  a  thunder  shower,  and  some 
scattering  rain-drops  again  betoken  its  close. 

About  9  o'clock  Port  Gibson  was  reached  and  found 
to  be  a  pretty  little  town.  Over  two  or  three  houses  red 
flags  were  flying,  thus  indicating  that  the  buildings  were 
occupied  as  hospitals.  At  the  door  of  one  of  these  an 
attache  was  met  who  seemed  friendly  and  talkative.  Be- 
ing an  enlisted  Confederate  soldier,  he  was  an  enthu- 
siastic Southerner,  and  said: 

"No,  you  never  will  take  Vicksburg  in  the  world.  It 
will  turn  out  just  like  your  On  to  Richmond.  The  South 
will  gain  her  independence,  and  Southern  Illinois  and 
Southern  Indiana  will  yet  become  a  part  of  the  Con- 
federacy." 


An  Enthusiastic  Confederate.  87 

His  notions  about  Indiana  and  Illinois  were  evidently 
obtained  at  a  very  early  period  in  the  war,  and  badly 
needed  readjustment.  When  asked  if  he  thought  failure 
to  subdue  the  South  would  be  for  want  of  valor  in  the 
Federal  soldiers,  he  answered: 

"Not  in  you,  men,  you  are  from  the  West,  and  West- 
ern soldiers  will  fight,  but  Eastern  soldiers  won't." 

Here  was  another  notion  obtained  early  in  the  war 
(concerning  Eastern  soldiers)  that  sorely  needed  revision. 
This  man  was  dressed  in  jeans  of  the  prescribed  gray 
hue,  he  talked  quite  intelligently,  and  did  not  have  the 
Southern  accent,  but  among  other  things,  hooted  de- 
risively at  Lincoln's  Emancipation  Proclamation  as 
utterly  futile,  so  far  as  any  effect  it  would  have  in  free- 
ing the  slave. 

The  Federals,  at  once,  set  about  extemporizing  a 
bridge  across  the  bayou ;  this  was  completed  so  that  many 
crossed  that  night  and  my  regiment  early  next  morning, 
when  the  line  of  march  was  taken  up  in  a  general  north- 
ern course  from  Port  Gibson.  This,  the  3d  of  May,  was 
a  beautiful  Sabbath  day,  and  many  pleasant  home-like 
places  were  passed.  Grant's  gaining  the  battle  of  Port 
Gibson  and  afterward  promptly  pushing  his  columns  into 
the  interior,  turned  the  Confederate  works  at  Grand  Gulf 
and  caused  their  evacuation.  These  were  promptly  taken 
possession  of  by  our  troops  and  made  the  base  upon  the 
Mississippi  side  of  the  river  instead  of  Bruinsburg. 

Two  or  three  days  after  leaving  Port  Gibson  rations 
gave  out,  and  the  army  was  directed  to  live  off  the 
country.  The  region  was  well-stocked  with  corn,  bacon, 
sheep,  chickens,  turkeys,  honey,  etc.  The  corn  was  in 
cribs,  from  which  it  was  taken,  shelled  and  carried  to  the 
horse-mills,  one  of  which  was  on  nearly  every  plantation, 


Muskets  and  Medicine. 


where  it  was  ground  into  meal.  Every  Southerner  re- 
gards his  home  incomplete  without  a  large  and  well- 
filled  smoke-house.  This  is  a  rough  outbuilding,  consist- 
ing usually  of  one  room  and  generally  without  a  floor, 
As  soon  as  cold  weather  comes  it  brings  to  the  Souther- 
ner hog-killing  time,  when,  from  ten  to  thirty  hogs  are 
butchered,  the  number  depending  on  the  size  of  the  fam- 
ily and  thrift  of  its  head.  The  pork  is  first  "salted 
down"  in  brine  and,  after  soaking  for  a  time,  hung  up 
to  drip  in  the  smoke-house.  After  a  little  while  it  is 
thoroughly  smoked  by  having  under  it  for  days  a  smoth- 
ered fire  made  of  hickory.  After  going  through  this 
process  the  meat  becomes  bacon,  and  in  the  preparation 
of  the  latter  the  Southerner  has  no  equal.  Ham  taken 
from  his  smoke-house  is  matchless  in  taste  and  quality. 
Many  smoke-houses  were  found  filled  with  bacon ;  others 
were  discovered  that  bore  marks  of  a  hasty  removal  of 
contents  to  some  less  conspicuous  place  for  safe  keeping. 
Often  the  meat  was  buried  or  put  in  some  retired  spot 
in  the  woods,  but,  through  a  darky  or  some  such  means, 
its  hiding-place  was  in  nearly  all  instances  sought  out  by 
the  persistent  Northerners. 

Home-made  bacon  was  a  favorite  meat  with  the  sol- 
diers, and  for  a  time  they  enjoyed  with  it  corn  bread, 
made  from  the  freshly  ground  corn  meal  of  the  country. 
Lamb,  turkey,  chicken  and  honey,  for  a  season,  made  the 
bill  of  fare  seem  perfect.  But  the  principal  trouble  of 
subsisting  an  army  off  a  country  in  this  way  is  the  great 
improvidence  of  the  soldiers.  There  is  more  wasted  than 
eaten.  However,  for  more  than  two  weeks  in  May,  1863, 
Grant's  army,  of  from  thirty  to  forty  thousand  men, 
lived  bountifully  off  the  region  east  and  southeast  of 
Vicksburg. 


"A  Bitter  Experience."  89 

Many  pleasant  camping  places  were  found.  One,  in 
particular,  comes  in  memory  which,  if  the  writer's  recol- 
lection serves  him  well,  was  near  Willow  Springs.  The 
Hospital  department  encamped  in  the  shade  of  some 
bushy-like  trees  in  the  very  shallow  and  dry  bed  of  a 
wide  stream  that  was  covered  smoothly  over  with  the 
whitest  and  finest  sand.  It  was  level  and  clean  as  a 
thrifty  housewife's  kitchen  floor.  Here  the  corn  meal 
was  made  into  toothsome  bread  and  eaten  with  fresh 
young  lamb,  while  luscious  honey  was  in  plenty  for 
dessert. 

About  this  time  I  remember  longing  especially  for 
fresh  milk,  and  resolved  at  the  very  first  opportunity  to 
get  some.  One  day,  when  on  the  march,  a  farm-house 
was  passed,  and  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  road  were 
a  lot  of  cows  fastened  up  in  the  "coppen"  (cow-pen),  as 
the  Southerners  say.  I  was  not  long  in  getting  over  the 
fence,  nor  long  in  selecting  a  cow  with  a  fine  udder,  from 
which  I  soon  filled  my  canteen.  The  fence  was  again 
hurriedly  clambered  over  and  the  regiment  overtaken. 
By  and  by,  when  a  drink  of  nice,  fresh  milk  could  no 
longer  be  postponed,  the  canteen  was  turned  up,  when, 
horrors!  what  a  bitter  taste!  Quinine  could  have  been 
no  worse.  It  was  learned  soon  after  from  a  native  that 
the  cows  in  that  season  feed  upon  young  cane-shoots, 
and  these  give  the  bitter  taste  to  the  milk. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ATTACK  ON  VICKSBURG  FROM   THE  SOUTH 
AND  EAST. 

"The  neighb'ring  plains  with  arms  are  covered  o'er; 
The  vale  an  iron  harvest  seems  to  yield — " 

— DRYDEN. 

IT  had  been  Grant's  intention,  upon  securing  a  foot- 
hold below  Vicksburg,  to  detach  part  of  his  command 
and  send  it  to  General  Banks  at  Port  Hudson,  which 
place  the  last-mentioned  officer  was  about  to  besiege. 
But  learning  that  ten  days  would  elapse  before  Banks 
would  be  ready  to  commence  active  operations  in  the 
vicinity  of  Port  Hudson,  and  meeting  with  such  gratify- 
ing success  at  the  battle  of  Port  Gibson,  with  the  conse- 
quent evacuation  of  Grand  Gulf,  Grant  resolved  to  push 
for  the  interior  and  threaten  Vicksburg  from  the  east 
and  southeast. 

About  the  middle  of  May,  1863,  General  Joseph  E. 
Johnston  came  to  Jackson,  Miss.,  the  State  capital, 
established  his  headquarters  there,  and  assumed  general 
command  in  the  department.  Johnston  had  under  his 
immediate  command  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  troops.  To 
prevent  the  junction  of  these  with  the  force  under  Pem- 
berton  at  Vicksburg,  became  an  immediate  object  with 
Grant.  The  Seventeenth  Corps,  under  General  J.  B. 
McPherson,  and  Fifteenth,  under  General  W.  T.  Sher- 
man, had  followed  the  Thirteenth  Corps  from1  Milliken's 
Bend  before  the  10th  of  May,  and  were  with  Grant, 
southeast  of  Vicksburg. 

(90) 


'Glorious  Bird!"  91 


The  second  week  in  May  the  battle  of  Raymond  was 
fought,  twenty  miles  west  of  Jackson,  between  troops  of 
the  Seventeenth  Corps,  mainly  Logan's  Division,  and 
some  of  General  Johnston's  command;  the  latter  were 
defeated  and  returned  to  Jackson,  which  place  was  soon 
after  attacked  by  Sherman,  and  the  troops  defending  it, 
under  General  Johnston,  beaten  and  driven  North.  All 
this  time  the  Thirteenth  Corps  was  hugging  the  eastern 
bank  of  the  Big  Black  River.  McClernand,  with  the 
Thirteenth  Corps,  was  thus  on  the  left,  McPherson  in 
the  center,  and  Sherman  on  the  right,  all  facing  the 
north. 

From  the  3d  of  May,  when  our  regiment  left  Port 
Gibson,  till  about  the  13th  of  that  month,  the  part  of  the 
army  we  were  with,  General  A.  J.  Smith's  Division  of 
the  Thirteenth  Corps,  moved  in  a  general  northerly 
course.  Willow  Springs,  Rocky  Springs,  Cayuga  and 
Mount  Auburn  were  severally  occupied,  and  among  other 
streams  crossed  were  Big  Sandy,  Five  Mile  Creek  and 
Fourteen  Mile  Creek.  At  Cayuga  the  command,  our 
division,  halted  for  a  day  or  two.  It  was  now  dry  and 
dusty,  the  immediate  vicinity  was  devoid  of  streams,  and 
the  only  water  available  was  dipped  from  stagnant  ponds, 
after  the  green  scum  covering  them  had  been  pushed 
aside.  While  here,  towards  the  middle  of  a  hot  sultry 
day,  a  division  marched  by  on  the  dusty  road,  near  which 
Smith's  Division  was  encamped.  Among  the  moving 
troops  was  a  Wisconsin  regiment  which  had  a  pet  eagle. 
A  perch  was  made  for  him  upon  a  thin  board  cut  in  the 
form  of  a  shield;  to  this  he  was  chained,  and  all  was 
borne  upon  the  shoulder  of  a  soldier.  As  before  said, 
the  day  was  hot,  the  roads  were  dusty,  and  the  eagle, 
with  drooping  feathers  and  a  general  crestfallen  appear- 


92  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

ance,  looked  anything  but  the  "Proud  Bird"  he  is  sup- 
posed to  be.  Wonderful  stories  concerning  the  eagle 
were,  however,  in  circulation.  Among  other  things  it 
was  said  that  in  time  of  battle,  when  he  was  always 
loosened,  he  would  soar  above  the  men,  flap  his  wings, 
hover  about  and  scream  with  delight.  The  Wisconsin 
regiment  that  had  this  "emblem  of  its  country"  became 
noted  as  the  "Eagle  Regiment," 

At  Auburn,  General  Frank  P.  Blair's  Division  joined 
Smith's.  Frank  P.  Blair,  before  the  war,  was  a  promi- 
nent and  vigorous  opponent  of  slavery,  and  lived  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.  In  the  hardly-contested  slavery  discussions 
that  preceded  the  war  many  free-soil  speeches  were  made 
by  him,  and  full  reports  of  these  frequently  appeared  in 
the  Missouri  Democrat,  the  only  paper  of  any  prominence 
published  in  St.  Louis  that  opposed  slavery.  Blair  en- 
tered the  army  and  proved  a  most  efficient  officer. 

While  at  Auburn  word  was  received  of  Hooker's  de- 
feat— the  Army  of  the  Potomac — at  Chancellorsville,  the 
2d  and  3d  of  May,  1863. 

Our  immediate  command — Smith's  Division — moved 
northward,  and  about  the  13th  or  14th  of  May  crossed 
Fourteen  Mile  Creek  and  encamped  over  night  some 
miles  north  of  this  stream.  It  was  at  the  time  under- 
stood that  the  enemy  was  not  far  off — in  fact,  they  were 
in  force  but  five  miles  away,  at  Edward's  Station,  on  the 
Vicksburg  &  Jackson  Railroad. 

All  this,  time  the  line  of  march  had  led  in  a  northerly 
direction,  but  early  the  next  morning,  after  encamping 
north  of  Fourteen  Mile  Creek,  the  division  faced  about, 
recrossed  that  stream,  and  finally  took  a  road  eastward 
for  Raymond.  This  place  was  reached  late  in  the  even- 
ing, and  our  regiment  went  into  camp  some  little  dis- 


Battle  of  Champion's  Hill. 


tance  east  of  the  town.  Early  next  morning  we  faced 
about  again,  passed  through  the  town  and  took  a  road 
leading  in  a  northwesterly  direction;  very  soon  the 
enemy's  pickets  were  encountered,  and  the  whole  divi- 
sion, about  9  o'clock,  deployed  and  advanced  in  line  of 
battle. 

The  country,  on  both  sides  the  road,  was  either  culti- 
vated fields  or,  for  the  most  part,  open  timber,  so  that 
the  advance  was  unobstructed  by  thick  underbrush  or 
ravines.  The  enemy  did  not  seem  to  be  in  strong  force 
in  front,  and  the  advance  was  most  beautiful  and  orderly. 
Every  regiment  had  its  flag  unfurled  and  banner  flying, 
and  all  moved  forward  with  stately  tread.  The  writer 
looked  on  with  admiration,  for  here  was  the  "pomp  and 
circumstance  of  war"  without  its  horrors.  But  heavy 
firing  off  to  the  right  told  that  others  were  not  coming 
off  so  easily.  This  was  the  battle  of  Champion's  Hill, 
an  elevation  that  commanded  the  whole  region. 

The  road  upon  which  were  Smith  and  Blair's  Divisions 
ran  to  the  south  of  the  elevation,  hence  but  slight  resist- 
ance was  found  in  their  front.  But,  on  the  other  roads 
to  the  north,  upon  which  Carr's,  Osterhaus'  and  Hovey's 
Divisions  camei  into  action,  the  enemy  was  met  in  force. 
Hovey's  Division  belonged  to  the  Thirteenth  Corps,  but 
for  the  time  was  with  McPherson  upon  the  northern  or 
main  Vicksburg  &  Jackson  Road.  Hovey  fought  terribly 
and  suffered  severely;  a  large  share  of  the  whole  loss 
was  sustained  by  his  division,  which  that  day  lost  one- 
third  of  its  number. 

The  Confederates  sustained  overwhelming  defeat,  los- 
ing in  killed,  wounded  and  missing  upwards  of  six 
thousand;  and,  towards  and  after  night,  retreated  pre- 
cipitately. 


94  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  Thirteenth  Corps  pursued  them  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  17th  of  May,  and  before  noon  came  upon 
their  fortifications  on  the  Big  Black  River,  where  the 
railway  bridge  crosses  that  stream.  With  the  Hospital 
department  I  was  behind  with  the  trains.  These  moved 
very  deliberately.  Early  in  the  morning  a  house  was 
passed  that  had  been  riddled  through  and  through  with 
cannon  balls. 

Before  noon  Edward's  Station  was  reached,  and  at  the 
Confederate  Hospital  the  writer's  attention  was  called  to 
a  young  Confederate  who,  it  was  said,  had  his  heart  on 
the  "wrong  side."  There  was  probably  some  enlarge- 
ment that. made  the  heartbeat  appear  to  the  right  of  the 
center  of  the  chest.  At  noon-time  rest  and  dinner  were 
taken  under  some  trees  in  a  pasture,  and  while  here  a 
Confederate  paper  was  seen  which  told  what  terrible 
losses  the  invaders  had  sustained,  and  how  they  were 
soon  to  be  hurled  back  and  sent  flying  to  their  homes ! 

After  a  time  the  road  was  again  taken,  and  pretty  soon 
a  cot  was  passed  at  the  side  of  the  road  upon  which  was 
a  dying  officer.  Before  Black  River  Bridge  was  reached 
the  advance  had  skirmished  with  the  enemy,  and  in  this 
affair  the  officer,  who  was  the  Colonel  of  the  Twenty- 
third  Iowa,  if  my  memory  serves  me  well,  received  a 
mortal  wound,  He  was  lying  on  his  back  unconscious 
and  deadly  pale,  and  upon  his  brow  was  the  clammy 
sweat  of  death.  Towards  night  a  stop  was  made,  and, 
with  some  comrades,  I  slept  near  the  front  gate  of  a 
farmhouse;  nearby  lay  the  dead  body  of  a  Confederate 
soldier  who  fell  in  a  skirmish  earlier  in  the  day.  His 
body  lay  there  all  night.  Next  morning  the  march  was 
again  resumed.  The  whole  line  of  the  route,  particularly 
that  of  the  day  previous,  was  strewn  at  the  roadside  with 


Battle  of  Black  River  Bridge.  95 

the  guns,  knapsacks,  canteens,  broken  wagons  and  extra 
garments  of  the  Confederates.  These  were  especially 
numerous  between  the  Champion's  Hill  battle  ground  and 
Edward's  Station. 

Pretty  early  on  the  morning  of  May  18  the  bluffs  of 
Black  River  were  reached,  and  the  remains  of  the  burned 
railroad  bridge  came  in  sight.  A  little  later  my  regi- 
ment was  found  inside  of  the  Confederate  works  cap- 
tured the  day  previous.  I  soon)  had  from  my  comrades, 
who  had  been  participants  in  the  battle  of  Black  River 
Bridge,  a  full  account  of  the  whole  affair.  It  was  almost 
a  bloodless  victory.  A  bayou  circles  around  to  the  east 
from  Black  River  at  the  railroad  bridge,  forming  a  sort 
of  horseshoe,  one-half  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in 
extent;  just  within  this  the  Confederates,  with  cotton 
bales  from  the  neighboring  plantation,  had  extemporized 
breastworks.  These  were  well  manned,  and  at  con- 
venient intervals  cannon  were  planted.  Upon  the  hills, 
just  west  of  the  river,  the  Confederates  were  in  force. 
Lawler,  with  his  brigade,  charged  the  left  flank  of  the 
Rebel  line,  when  the  whole  of  the  enemy  either  sur- 
rendered or  sought  safety  in  flight.  Seventeen  hundred 
prisoners  were  taken,  many  of  whom,  when  the  charge 
was  first  made,  became  panic-stricken,  tore  out  little 
bunches  of  cotton  from  the  bales  in  the  breastworks  and 
hoisted  these  upon  the  points  of  their  bayonets  in  token 
of  surrender. 

I  spent  some  time  in  visiting  the  works  lately  occupied 
by  the  Confederates;  they  seemed  strong,  and  the  whole 
position  was  very  similar  to  that  occupied  by  the  Fed- 
erals eighteen  months  later  at  Franklin,  Tenn.,  where 
the  furious  charges  of  Hood's  forces  were  made  unsuc- 


96  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

cessfully  and  with  such  terrible  loss,  upon  Schofield,  the 
Union  Commander. 

Having  lost,  since  the  1st  day  of  May,  1863,  the  bat- 
tles of  Port  Gibson,  Raymond,  Jackson,  Champion's  Hill 
and  Black  River  Bridge,  all  in  the  vicinity  of  Vicksburg, 
the  Confederates,  on  the  17th  of  the  same  month,  retired 
within  the  works  of  that  stronghold. 

As  soon  as  the  position  at  Black  River  was  lost,  the 
bridge  at  that  point  was  burned,  The  Pioneer  Corps, 
however,  fell  to  work  most  energetically,  and  by  10 
o'clock  of  May  18,  a  temporary  bridge  was  ready  for 
use.  Eighteen  guns  were  captured  at  Black  River. 
Many  of  these  were  handsome  and  finished  in  a  most 
beautiful  manner.  Several  had  painted  upon  them  in 
gilt  letters  names  of  popular  Confederate  officers,  but 
qualified  with  the  word  lady.  Thus  there  was  the  "Lady 
Davis,"  "Lady  Price,"  "Lady  Beauregard,"  etc. 

Before  noon  nearly  the  whole  command  was  across 
the  Big  Black  River  and  headed  for  Vicksburg,  ten  or 
twelve  miles  distant.  The  way  was,  for  the  most  part, 
lined  with  farmhouses. 

The  Thirteenth  Corps  bore  to  the  left  and,  at  night- 
fall, was  within  about  four  miles  of  the  works  that  en- 
circled Vicksburg.  Orders  were  given  to  make  fires  only 
in  the  ravines,  with  which  the  region  was  well  supplied. 

Early  next  morning  the  whole  command  advanced. 
As  the  Confederates  had,  so  far,  been  defeated  and  had 
in  the  last  engagement  yielded  what  seemed  a  strong 
position  with  so  little  resistance,  the  opinion  came  to 
prevail  throughout  the  Federal  Army  that  Vicksburg 
would  yield  without  further  resistance.  Filled  with  this 
idea  the  Union  forces  confidently  approached  the  out- 
works of  Vicksburg  on  the  morning  of  May  19,  but 


Our  Division  Hospital.  97 

found  the  Confederates  without  these  in  line  of  bat- 
tle. They  soon  retired,  however,  and  meantime  the 
Federals,  by  this  time  convinced  that  the  foe  in  front 
intended  to  fight,  approached  cautiously  but  deter- 
minedly. 

The  division  established  its  hospital  about  four  miles 
from  the  Confederate  works  at  the  house  of  a  man 
named  Swett.  The  house  was  built  mainly  of  logs  in  the 
center  of  a  large  yard  that  sloped  down  in  nearly  every 
direction. 

Everything  was  got  in  readiness  at  the  hospital  to 
receive  the  wounded.  The  surgeons  had  their  instru- 
ments all  ready  for  use ;  long,  bright,  razor-edged  knives 
for  cutting  through  fleshy  parts  in  amputations  and 
sharp-toothed,  shining  saws  for  sawing  bone.  Then 
there  were  strong  forceps  for  extracting  bullets,  bone 
pliers  for  snipping  off  jagged  ends  of  bone  and  tour- 
niquets for  arresting  hemorrhage.  Sponges  for  washing 
wounds  and  lint  and  bandages  for  dressing  them  were  in 
plentiful  supply. 

Among  the  more  prominent  drugs  were  morphine,  for 
alleviating  pain,  chloroform  and  ether  for  producing 
anesthesia  (insensibility  to  suffering),  brandy,  wine, 
whiskey  and  quinine  for  exhaustion,  and  perchloride  of 
iron,  a  powerful  styptic,  to  stop  bleeding.  To  be  used 
in  the  way  of  nourishment  there  were  beef  essences,  con- 
densed milk,  strong  coffee,  beef  soup,  broths,  crackers, 
etc.,  etc. 

The  yard  at  Swett's  was  filled  with  shade  trees,  and 
under  these  it  was  proposed  to  put  the  wounded.  Am- 
bulances were  sent  to  the  front,  and  everything  was  in 
readin'ess  at  the  hospital  to  make  as  comfortable  as  pos- 
sible the  injured.  Toward  noon  I  went  forward  a 

7 


98  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

couple  of  miles;  since  8  o'clock  there  had  been  firing, 
and  this  grew  heavier  and  heavier  as  the  day  advanced. 
As  yet,  however,  there  was  but  little  in  the  immediate 
front,  but  nearly  all  was  to  the  right.  Sherman,  with 
the  Fifteenth  Corps,  was  on  the  extreme  right,  McPher- 
son  (Seventeenth  Corps)  was  in  the  center,  and  Mc- 
Clernand  (Thirteenth  Corps)  was  on  the  left. 

At  noon  the  firing  to  the  right  became  very  heavy,  the 
musketry  was  incessant,  and  this  was  very  frequently 
punctuated  with  the  boom  of  cannon.  Gradually  the 
incessant  report  of  musketry  and  frequent  boom  of 
cannon  crept  round  to  the  left,  and  in  the  afternoon  the 
whole  line  was  engaged.  Toward  evening  the  ambu- 
lances commenced  coming  in  loaded  with  the  wounded. 
These  poor  fellows  had  to  be  lifted  carefully  from  the 
ambulances  and  laid  around  upon  the  ground  till  the 
surgeons  could  examine  and  care  for  their  injuries.  Two 
or  three  operating  tables  had  been  extemporized  with 
boards;  at  each  of  these  surgeons  were  soon  busily  at 
work  amputating  legs  and  arms,  probing  wounds  and 
otherwise  operating  upon  the  injured.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  injuries  came  from  musket  balls,  a  few  came 
from  pieces  of  shell,  and  occasionally  one  from  a  grape 
shot. 

Nearly  all  were  perforating  wounds,  though  occasion- 
ally only  a  bruise  was  found,  and  this  usually  came  from 
a  piece  of  shell.  Where  bones  of  the  extremities  were 
seriously  injured  amputations  were  nearly  always  re- 
sorted to.  In  the  case  of  the  arm,  however,  especially 
between  the  shoulder  and  elbow,  if  the  joints  were  not 
involved,  the  wound  was  enlarged  and  the  ragged  ends 
of  bones  pared  off  smoothly,  the  arm  put  in  a  splint,  and 
if  the  case  resulted  fortunately,  fibrous  tissue  first  and 


Torn,  Wounded,  Mangled.  99 

later  a  bony  structure  took  the  place  of  the  original  hard 
bone.  This  operation  was  called  a  resection,  All  sorts 
of  wounds  were  encountered.  One  poor  fellow  was  shot 
in  the  face  in  such  a  way  that  the  whole  lower  jaw  was 
taken  off ;  the  wound,  however,  was  not  necessarily  fatal. 

A  bullet  passed  through  a  man's  skull  and  into  the 
brain  cavity ;  for  days  he  lived,  walked  about  and  waited 
largely  upon  himself.  He  seemed  dazed,  however,  from 
the  first,  and  after  awhile  became  stupid,  helpless  and 
died.  Some  that  were  brought  in  were  so  severely  in- 
jured that  there  was  no  hope  of  doing  anything  for  their 
recovery;  such  cases,  if  there  seemed  to  be  much  suf- 
fering, were  made  as  comfortable  as  possible  and  laid 
upon  the  ground,  and  the  attention  of  the  surgeons  given 
to  those  whose  injuries  were  likely  to  receive  benefit. 
Onei  poor  fellow  was  shot  somewhere  in  the  base  of  the 
brain  and,  when  taken  out  of  the  ambulance,  one  side  of 
his  face  was  in  convulsions.  His  case  was  deemed  hope- 
less, and  he  was  placed  upon)  the  ground.  All  night  and 
till  noon  next  day  the  convulsions  continued;  one  eye 
was  in  constant  motion,  and  the  muscles  of  the  same  side 
of  the  face  jerked  and  twitched  in  horrible  contortions. 
But  at  last  death  came  to  his  relief. 

All  were  kept  busy  till  away  in  the  night  caring  for  the 
wounded.  Blankets1  were  spread  upon  the  ground  under 
the  trees,  and  upon  these,  side  by  side,  the  injured  ones 
were  laid.  Toward  morning  others  of  the  wounded  were 
brought  in  that  could  not  be  reached  till  nightfall  pro- 
tected the  rescuing  parties  from  the  bullets  of  the  enemy. 

The  next  day,  May  20,  was  occupied  in  perfecting  the 
care  of  the  injured.  Many  operations  were  of  too  deli- 
cate a  character  to  be  performed  after  night ;  these  were 
made  the  morning  following.  Sometimes  in  the  army, 


100  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

however,  very  delicate  operations  were,  from  necessity, 
performed  after  night.  In  the  medical  supplies  were  lit- 
tle wax  candles  that  gave  a  pretty  light,  free  from  smoke 
and  without  much  dripping,  as  from  tallow  candles. 
When  working  after  night  a  number  of  these  were 
lighted  and  held  for  the  convenience  of  the  operator. 
The  night  after  the  battle  of  Champion's  Hill  I  remem- 
ber coming  upon  some  surgeons  who  were  amputating 
at  the  shoulder- joint  the  arm  of  a  poor  fellow  who  had 
been  wounded  near  the  shoulder,  Just  as  I  came  up  the 
surgeons  were  turning  the  bone  out  of  its  socket  and  ad- 
justing the  flaps.  This  operation,  in  the  army,  was  con- 
sidered a  very  critical  one,  and  was  not  often  performed 
when  other  means  would  avail. 

At  the  front  the  lines  were  advanced  as  near  as  pos- 
sible to  the  enemy's  works,  and  at  night  the  spade  was 
used  freely,  thus  making  rifle-pits  to  secure  protection 
from  the  enemy's  bullets.  The  casualties  were  com- 
paratively few  on  the  20th  and  21st  of  May;  yet 
throughout  both  these  days  wounded  men  were  from 
time  to  time  brought  in  from  the  front. 

Meantime  preparations  for  the  care  of  the  wounded 
were  made  on  a  much  more  extended  scale.  When  the 
trees  in  the  yard  failed  to  give  shelter  from  sunshine  by 
day  and  dew  at  night,  limbs  heavily  laden  with  leaves, 
cut  from  the  timber  nearby  were  laid  upon  poles  that 
rested  upon  others  set  in  the  ground.  While  engaged  in 
this  work  a  cannon  ball  came  whizzing  through  the  air 
and  buried  itself  in  the  ground  in  the  center  of  the  yard. 
One  of  the  men,  curious  to  see  what  character  of  missle 
it  was,  got  a  shovel  and  excavated  the  ball.  It  proved 
to  be  a  conical  steel  ball  about  two  and  one-half  inches 
through  and  seven  or  eight  inches  long. 


A  Much-needed  "Cracker-line."         101 

Meanwhile  full  rations  were  now  received  for  all,  from 
a  base  of  supplies  established  on  the  Yazoo  River,  upon 
Sherman's  right;  from  this  point  a  wagon  road  in  the 
rear  of  the  army  was  made,  and  over  this  were  con- 
veyed supplies  of  all  kinds  to  the  troops.  For  a  day  or 
two  after  the  investment,  Warrenton,  about  six  miles 
below  Vicksburg,  had  been  used  as  a  base.  But  the  new 
base  upon  the  Yazoo  gave  direct  communication  with  the 
great  North  and  its  limitless  supplies!  of  all  kinds. 


CHAPTER   X. 

ASSAULT  AND   SIEGE  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE 
STRONGHOLD. 

"Their's  not  to  make  reply, 
Their's  not  to  reason  why, 
Their's  but  to  do  and  die." 

— TENNYSON. 

AT  2  P.M.,  May  19,  an  assault  was  made  on  the  Con- 
federate works  at  Vicksburg.  This  assault  was  unsuc- 
cessful, so  far  as  capturing  the  stronghold  was  concerned, 
but  resulted  in  giving  the  Federals)  an  advanced  position, 
which  position  was  made  secure  by  the  use  of  the  spade 
the  succeeding  night.  Believing  that  the  Confederates 
would  not  hold  out  against  another  determined  assault,  a 
second  one  was  ordered  at  10  A.M.,  May  22.  This  was 
opened  by  a  terrific  cannonade  from  all  the  Federal  bat- 
teries ;  following  this  was  an  incessant  rattle  of  musketry. 

It  was  known  at  the  hospital  this  charge  was  to  be 
made,  and  the  constant  boom  of  cannon  and  continual 
roll  of  musketry  firing  after  10  in  the  forenoon  all  knew 
would  soon  bring  in  a  frightful  harvest  of  mangled  and 
wounded.  The  slain  would,  of  course,  for  the  time  at 
least,  be  left  on  the  field.  About  2  P.M.  through  the 
trees  was  seen  a  long  train  of  ambulances  approaching, 
all  heavily  loaded  with  mangled  humanity.  Upon  reach- 
ing the  hospital  grounds  two  or  three  ambulances  were 
backed  up  at  once,  and  the  wounded  lifted  or  assisted 
out.  One  of  the  first  that  I  assisted  in  taking  from  the 
ambulance  was  a  tall,  slender  man,  who  had  received  a 
terrible  wound  in  the  top  of  his  head ;  a  minnie  ball  had, 

(102) 


Falling  into  the  Final  Sleep.  103 

so  to  speak,  plowed  its  way  through  the  skull,  making  a 
ragged,  gaping  wound,  exposing  the  brain  for  three  or 
four  inches.  He  lived  but  a  moment  after  removal  from 
the  ambulance. 

The  captain1  of  the  company  in  which  I  enlisted  was 
in  another  ambulance,  mortally  wounded,  with  a  bullet 
in  his  brain.  He  lived  a  day  or  two  in  an  unconscious 
stupor — a  comatose  state — as  the  doctors  say.  But  the 
majority  of  the  wounded  were  boys,  young,  brave,  daring 
fellows,  too  often  rash,  and  meeting  death,  or  next  to  it, 
oftentimes  from  needless  exposure. 

One  nice  young  fellow  of  eighteen  the  writer  can  never 
forget.  He  had  been  wounded  in  the  bowels,  and  was 
sitting  at  the  root  of  a  large  tree,  resting  his  head  against 
its  trunk.  His  name  was  Banks,  and  knowing  me  well, 
he  recognized  me,  and  calling  me  by  name,  said:  "Ah, 
I'm  badly  wounded."  Already  his  lips  were  ashy  pale, 
a  clammy  sweat  was  upon  his  face,  and  from  the  wound 
in  his  abdomen  a  long  knuckle  of  intestine  was  protrud- 
ing. A  few  hours  more  and  young  Banks  was  resting  in 
the  sleep  of  death.  No  danger  from  enemy's  bullets 
now ;  the  poor,  senseless  day,  which  a  little  time  before 
had  been  the  dwelling-place  of  joyous  young  life,  noth- 
ing could  harm  more.  By  the  quiet  form  sat  the  father, 
sad  and  heart-broken,  himself  a  soldier,  but  the  balance 
of  his  term  of  service  would  seem  lonely  and  tedious. 

Arms  and  legs  of  many  in  the  ambulances  were  hang- 
ing useless  and  lying  powerless  by  the  sides  of  their 
owners,  and  soon  the  surgeons  at  several  tables  were  kept 
busy  removing  mangled  and  useless  limbs.  As  on  all 
such  occasions  when  there  were  a  great  many  wounded 


Captain  William  M.  Colby,  130th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers. 


104  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

on  hand  at  one  time,  but  little  was  done  for  the  mortally 
injured,  save  to  lay  them  in  a  comparatively  comfortable 
position;  those  having  mangled  limbs  and  broken  bones 
were  first  attended,  while  those  with  unextensive,  simple 
flesh  wounds  were  passed  by  till  more  serious  cases  were 
looked  after.  Judgment,  however,  in  this  direction  was 
not  always!  unerring,  and  I  remember  one  man,  with  what 
seemed  a  slight  wound  of  the  foot,  who  was  rather  per- 
sistent in  asking  immediate  attention ;  but  the  number  of 
dangling  limbs  and  gaping  wounds  calling  for  immediate 
care  seemed  to  justify  the  surgeons  in  putting  him  off 
for  a  time.  His  case  was  attended  to  in  due  course,  and 
later  he  was  sent  up  the  river  to  a  large  Memphis  hos- 
pital, where,  some  weeks  subsequently,  he  was  infected 
with  hospital  gangrene,  and  died  from.'  its  effects.  Of 
course,  the  delay  in  dressing  his  wound  weeks  before  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  untoward  result,  but  it  did  bring 
sharp  criticism  upon  the  surgeons. 

All  the  afternoon  and  till  late  at  night  on  May  22  did 
the  surgeons  work  with  the  wounded ;  amputating  limbs, 
removing  balls,  cleaning  and  washing  wounds,  ridding 
them  of  broken  pieces  of  bone,  bandaging  them  up  and 
putting  them  in  the  best  shape  possible.  A  few  were 
bruised  from  stroke  of  spent  ball  or  piece  of  shell,  and 
recovered  in  a  few  days.  Long  lines  of  wounded  now 
occupied  the  shaded  places,  in  the  yard,  and  to  attend  to 
the  wants  of  these  kept  all  busy,  Carbolic  acid  and  other 
disinfectants  were  at  that  time  not  in  use,  and  all  wounds 
were  at  first  treated  with  simple  water  dressings.  Old 
muslin  cloth  or  lint  was  saturated  with  cold  water  and 
applied  to  all  fresh  wounds.  As  soon  as  these  began  to 
supurate,  simple  cerate,  a  mild,  soothing  ointment,  con- 
sisting of  two  parts  of  fresh  lard  and  one  of  white  wax, 


Captain  Wm.   M. .  Colby,   130th   Illinois  Volunteers. 
Mortally  wounded  at  Vicksburg,  May  22,  1863. 


(See  page  103) 


G?  rsi 

TT  Of 


An  Unusual  Wound.  105 

was  applied.  In  most  bullet  wounds,  the  ball  in  entering 
the  body  carried  before  it  little  pieces  of  the  clothing, 
leather  of  the  belt  or  cartridge  box,  tin  of  the  canteens 
or  any  such  substance  first  struck  by  the  missile.  In 
nearly  all  instances  these  foreign  substances  were  dis- 
charged) in  the  form  of  little  dark-colored  bits  of  debris. 

Every  day  the  wounds  were  washed  and  freshly 
dressed.  But,  as  the  weather  was  warm,  many  wounds 
became  infested  with  maggots.  This  looked  horrible,  but 
was  not  deemed  specially  detrimental.  Two  or  three 
days'  extra  work  was  made  by  the  large  number  of 
wounded,  resulting  from  the  assault  of  May  22.  After 
this  there  was  a  constant  accession  of  wounded  men  at 
the  hospital,  but  only  a  few  at  a  time. 

One  man  received  a  wound  from  some  sort  of  a  large 
missile  that  made  an  extensive  opening  at  the  place  of 
entrance,  the  fleshy  part  of  the  thigh,  in  which  it  buried 
itself  deeply  and  could  not  be  reached.  In  a  day  or  two 
the  limb  all  about  the  wound  began  to  assume  a  greenish- 
yellow  hue,  and  later  the  man  died.  Cutting  into  the 
wound  after  death  revealed  the  presence  of  a  copper-tap, 
more  than  an  inch  across,  from  a  shell. 

About  a  week  after  the  siege  began  a  young  man  from 
an  Ohio  regiment  died  from  a  wound,  resulting  from  his 
own  imprudence.  The  first  day  of  the  investment,  while 
his  regiment  was  drawn  up  in  line,  three  or  four  miles 
from  the  enemy's  works,  there  being  some  delay  in  the 
advance,  the  young  man  got  some  loose  powder,  ran  it 
along  in  a  little  trail,  covered  this  with  dust  and  tried  to 
fire  it.  As  it  did  not  ignite  he  was  stooping  over  with 
his  face  close  to  the  ground  when  the  charge  took  fire. 
His  face  was  badly  burned,  and  later  was  attacked  with 
erysipelas,  from  which  death  resulted.  This  seemed  an 


106  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

inglorious  way  of  yielding  up  one's  life  when  the  oppor- 
tunities for  dying  gloriously  for  one's  country  were  so 
plentiful  and  ready  at  hand. 

As  soon  as  communication  by  the  Yazoo2  was  opened 
up  with  the  North,  supplies  in  great  abundance  came  in 
for  the  sick.  In  the  way  of  eatables  for  the  hospital 
were  delicacies)  of  various  kinds,  fruits,  mild  home-made 
wines,  etc.  Clothing  for  the  sick  and  wounded  was  fur- 
nished in  full  quantities.  This,  for  the  most  part,  con- 
sisted of  cotton  garments  for  underwear,  shirts,  night- 
shirts, drawers,  gowns,  etc.,  nearly  all  of  bleached  muslin. 
Cotton  goods  were  at  the  time  expensive  in  the  market, 
from  the  fact  that  the  supply  of  the  raw  material  by  the 
South  was  stopped  for  the  period  during  which  the  war 
continued. 

Nearly  all  these  things  were  donated  by  individuals 
and  communities.  Very  many  of  the  garments  had  the 
name  of  the  donor  stamped  upon  them  with  stencil  plate. 
Quite  a  number  of  the  articles  seen  by  the  writer  had  the 
name,  now  forgotten,  of  a  lady  with  postoffice  address 
at  Janesville,  Wis. 

The  assault  of  May  22  convinced  all,  officers  and  men 
alike,  that  Vicksburg  was  much  more  securely  intrenched 
than  had  been  supposed,  and  that  the  only  way  to  capture 
it  would  be  by  siege.  Accordingly  all  made  up  their 
minds  to  await  the  result  patiently,  but  of  the  final  fall 
of  the  stronghold  no  one  entertained  a  doubt.  Indeed, 
of  ultimate  triumph  every  man  seemed  from  the  start  to 
have  full  confidence. 


2  The  Yazoo  River  empties  into  the  Mississippi  just  above 
Vicksburg,  consequently  boats  could  enter  its  mouth  and  run  up 
stream  to  our  troops.  • 


Our  Landlord.  107 


As  before  stated,  after  settling  down  to  siege  opera- 
tions there  were  comparatively  few  wounded.  Back  of 
Swett's  garden,  under  some  small  trees,  the  dead  from 
the  division  hospital  were  buried.  It  was  not  possible  to 
provide  coffins,  and  so  the  dead  were  wrapped  in  blankets 
and  covered  over  with  earth — till  their  shallow  graves 
were  rilled.  As  the  siege  progressed  all  the  wounded 
and  sick,  who  were  able  to  be  moved,  were  put  in  am- 
bulances and  conveyed  to  boats  on  the  Yazoo  River,  from 
whence  they  went  North. 

Cane  grew  in  abundance  all  about,  and  by  cutting  a 
number  of  these  stocks,  tying  them  together  with  strings, 
and  putting  the  two  ends  on  cross-pieces  resting  'upon 
stakes  driven  in  the  ground,  quite  comfortable  and 
springy  cots  were  improvised  for  the  hospital. 

Swett's  house  had  all  the  time  been  used  as  a  place  for 
storage  of  drugs  and  hospital  supplies.  Swett  was  a 
short,  thick-set  man  with  a  rotund  stomach  and  about 
fifty  years  old.  He  used  to  stand  around  and  lean  on 
his  cane  with  much  seeming  complacency.  In  his  yard 
were  several  bunches  of  fragrant  jasmine  in  full  bloom. 
This  is  a  most  beautiful  and  deliciously  fragrant  flower, 
scenting  the  air  with  its  delightful  odor. 

In  the  timber  all  about  were  magnificent  specimens  of 
magnolia,  having  upon  their  branches,  in  May  and  June, 
long  beautiful  blossoms.  Figs  ripened  in  Swett's  garden 
during  the  siege.  These,  while  not  liked  by  some  when 
gathered  fresh  from  the  trees,  by  others  were  relished 
exceedingly.  Thus,  tree,  flower  and  fruit  lent  something 
of  their  charms  to  assuage  the  horrors  of  war. 

As  soon  as  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston  discovered  that 
Grant  had  securely  invested  Vicksburg,  he  began  or- 
ganizing a  force  to  relieve  the  garrison,  This  force 


108  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

sought  to  attack  Grant's  rear  on  the  line  of  the  Big 
Black  River.3  Grant,  who  by  this  time  was  receiving 
re-enforcements  from  the  North,  was  fully  on  the  alert, 
and  confronted  Johnston  with  ample  force  to  keep  the 
latter  at  a  safe  distance  from  the,  operations  against 
Vicksburg. 

Meanwhile,  all  sorts  of  stories  were  in  circulation — 
nearly  all  favorable,  however,  to  the  Federals.  At  one 
time  it  was  rumored  Port  Hudson,  some  three  hundred 
miles  down  the  river,  had  capitulated  to  General  Banks ; 
at  another,  that  the  Confederates  could  not  hold  out 
longer;  again,  that  Richmond  was  taken,  and  then  that 
Washington  had  been  captured  by  Lee. 

Of  nights  the  mortar  boats  from  the  river  shelled 
Vicksburg,  and  sometimes,  with  one  or  more  comrades, 
I  would  go  out  upon  a  high  hill  in  front  of  the  hospital 
from  whence  the  bombardment  could  be  seen.  The  mor- 
tar boats  were,  perhaps,  eight  miles  distant,  and  first  a 
flash  would  be  seen,  then  the  discharge  of  the  mortar, 
next  a  streak  of  fire,  followed  by  a  burning  fuse;  this 
would  rise  away  up  in  the  air  and  finally  descend,  and, 
just  before  reaching  the  ground  another  flash,  the  explo- 
sion of  the  shell,  broke  upon  the  vision.  Some  time 
elapsed  after  the  flash  was  seen  before  the  report  could 
be  heard.  The  shells  thrown  by  these  mortar  boats  were 
of  one  and  two  hundred  pounds  caliber,  and  all  through 
the  siege  were  thrown  at  regular  intervals  during  the 
night-time. 

One  cannon,  belonging  to  the  Confederates,  received 
the  appellation  of  "Whistling  Dick."  The  ball  from  it 

3  The  Big  Black  River  runs  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  is 
some  twelve  miles  east  of  Vicksburg,  and  a  considerable  distance 
below  that  stronghold,  empties  into  the  Mississippi. 


Vicksburg  Surrenders.  109 

passed  through  the  air  with  a  peculiar  whistling  noise 
that  could  be  heard  by  all  on  the  southwestern  aspect  of 
the  works.  It  was  a  fine  breech-loading  rifled  cannon  of 
English  manufacture. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  June  rumors  of  the  impend- 
ing fall  of  Vicksburg  pervaded  the  command,  and  later, 
as  the  National  anniversary  drew  near,  it  was  said  a  most 
determined  assault  would  be  made  on  the  4th  of  July. 
Finally,  preparations  for  this  were  in  progress  when,  on 
the  3d  of  July,  word  came  that  the  Confederates  had 
already  made  propositions  looking  toward  a  surrender, 
and  next  day,  the  4th  of  July,  Vicksburg,  after  with- 
standing a  siege  of  forty-six  days,  capitulated. 

The  command,  though  long  expecting  this  event,  was 
almost  wild  with  joy.  Some  surprise  was,  however,  felt 
that  the  Confederates  should  have  yielded  on  the  day 
they  did;  the  belief  prevailed  that  they  had,  in  some 
way,  gained  an  inkling  of  the  intended  assault  and 
felt  as  though  they  could  not  withstand  another  deter- 
mied  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Federals.  Up  to  date  this 
was  the  most  important  success  of  the  war.  The  num- 
ber of  men  captured  exceeded  30,000,  with  a  vast  quan- 
tity of  small  arms,  cannon,  heavy  ordnance  and  muni- 
tions of  all  kinds.  Indeed,  more  men  capitulated  at 
Vicksburg  than  were  taken  in  one  body  at  any  other 
time  during  the  war. 

A  day  or  two  after  I  procured  a  pass  and  visited  the 
city.  It  was  alive  with  soldiers  of  both  armies,  All  upon 
friendly  relations,  swapping  yarns,  telling  experiences, 
trading  curiosities,  as  if  hostile  words,  much  less  shot 
and  shell,  had  never  passed  between  them.  One  tall 
young  Confederate  approached  me  and  wanted  to  ex- 
change a  two-dollar  Confederate  note  for  the  same 


110  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

amount  in  United  States  currency;  he  said,  by  way  of 
explanation,  that  he  would,  in  a  few  days,  be  going  home 
over  in  Louisiana  on  his  parole  and  wanted  the  "green- 
back" money  to  show  his  folks.  This  was,  most  prob- 
ably, not  true;  Confederate  money  was  wholly  valueless 
in  the  Union  lines,  and  the  United  States  currency  was 
doubtless  wanted  for  immediate  use. 

The  various  places  of  interest  about  the  city  were 
visited.  The  several  roads  passing  from  the  city,  upon 
reaching  the  bluff,  had  roadways  cut  through  this.  In 
many  places  these  cuts  were  twenty  and  thirty  feet  deep, 
and  the  walls  of  red  clay  perpendicular,  or  nearly  so. 
But  the  clay  composing!  these  walls  was  of  such  tenacity 
that  washings  never  occurred,  and  the  sides  of  the  cuts 
remained  as  durable)  as  if  built  of  stone. 

From  the  sides  of  these  walls  of  clay  caves  were  cut 
in  which  for  security  some  of  the  citizens  passed  much 
of  their  time.  I  visited  several  of  these  caves,  and  found 
two  or  three  of  them  carpeted  and  neatly  furnished. 
Many  places  were  seen  where  the  immense  shells  from 
the  mortar  fleet  struck  the  earth.  When  these  failed  to 
explode  a  great  round  hole  was  made  in  the  ground,  and 
in  case  of  explosion  after  striking  the  ground,  a  large 
excavation  was  the  result. 

The  great  guns  along  the  river  front — the  Columbiads 
of  9-,  11-  and  13-  inch  caliber — were  visited.  It  was 
these  that  blockaded  the  river  and  made  the  passing  of 
even  heavily-armored  vessels  hazardous.  Some  of  the 
Confederate  soldiers  belonging  to  the  infantry  were 
about  one  of  these  huge  guns,  and  one  of  them  said 
within  ear-shot: 

"I'll  bet  this  'ere  old  cannon's  killed  many  a  blue-belly." 

Passing  out  toward  the  outworks  a  Confederate  regi- 


A  Brief  Armistice.  Ill 

ment,  containing  not  many  more  men  than  a  full  com- 
pany, was  seen  draw  up  in  line  for  inspection  and  roll- 
call,  preparatory  to  completion  of  parole  papers. 

In  conversation  with  the  Confederates  some  said  they 
had  had  enough  of  the  war  and  hoped  the  South  would 
make  an  end  of  it ;  others  avowed  their  faith  in  ultimate 
success;  the  great  majority,  however,  were  non-commit- 
tal regarding  their  notions  of  final  success  or  failure. 

The  rifle-pits  and  works  of  the  Confederates  that 
crossed  the  railway  and  dirt  road  nearby  were  visited. 
The  neighborhood  of  the  dirt  road  seemed  especially  to 
have  been  the  scene  of  most  obstinate  conflict;  it  ran 
along  on  a  ridge  and  the  approach  was  particularly  well 
guarded.  The  space  outside  the  Confederate1,  works,  be- 
tween these  and  the  Federal  rifle-pits,  was  dotted  all 
over  with  Union  graves;  if  some  dirt  thrown  over  a 
soldier  where  he  fell  could  be  called  a  grave. 

A  day  or  two  after  the  assault  the  Union  dead  were 
buried  under  a  flag  of  truce.  The  weather  being  very 
warm,  before  this  was  attended  to,  decomposition  had 
already  begun  and  the  consequent  stench  would  soon 
grow  intolerable.  Under  these  circumstances  both  armies 
readily  agreed  to  a  short  armistice  for  disposition  of  the 
dead.  The  time  allowed  was  too  short  for  regular  inter- 
ment, hence  dirt  was  thrown  over  the  dead  bodies  where 
they  lay,  and  in  cases  where  they  could  be  identified,  a 
piece  of  board  put  at  the  head,  upon  which,  in  rude  let- 
ters, were  the  names  and  commands  of  the  fallen  ones. 

Wherever  an  elevation  intervened  between  the  Union 
lines  and  Confederate  works  the  tracks  of  bullets  through 
the  grass  and  weeds  were  surprisingly  thick  and  crossed 
and  cris-crossed  each  other  in  various  directions,  and  at 
one  point  there  was  hardly  an  inch  of  space  but  what 


112  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

had  thus  been  marked.  This  was  near  the  Jackson  dirt 
road,  where  the  Confederates  had  an  enfilading  fire  and 
used  it  to  most  deadly  advantage. 

Immediately  upon  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  an  expedition 
was  started  against  General  Joe  Johnston  who,  during 
the  siege,  had  been  threatening  Grant  from  the  rear  and 
on  the  line  of  the  Big  Black  River.  Under  a  broiling 
July  sun  the  Union  soldiers  took  up  the  line  of  march 
and  followed  the  Confederates  under  Johnston  to  Jack- 
son, Miss.,  to  which,  for  a  time,  they  laid  siege.  Finally, 
however,  realizing  that  he  was  outnumbered,  General 
Johnston  evacuated  his  works  at  Jackson  and  permitted 
the  Federals  to  take  possession  for  a  second  time  within 
two  months. 

Meanwhile,  with  the  regimental  surgeon  I  was  assigned 
to  duty  at  the  Thirteenth  Corps  Hospital,  which  was  in 
the  near  vicinity  of  a  farmhouse,  though  the  sick  and 
wounded  were  in  tents  and  everything  needed  for  their 
comfort  and  care  was  on  a  much  more  commodious 
scale  than  had  been  possible  at  the  Division  Hospital, 
where  I  was  on  duty  during  the  whole  forty-five  days  of 
the  siege.  One  peculiar  method  of  prescribing  was  in 
vogue  here :  A  number  of  favorite  prescriptions  for 
sundry  diseases  were  put  up  in  quantity  and  each  given 
a  number;  consequently,  instead  of  having  to  write  out 
a  prescription  and  having  it  put  up  separately  the  surgeon 
had  but  to  designate  a  given  number,  and  in  short  order 
the  patient  would  have  the  desired  remedy. 

During  this  period  I,  from  time  to  time,  secured  a  pass 
and  visited  Vicksburg,  which  was  gradually  settling  down 
to  the  new  order  of  things.  The  wharf  at  the  river  front, 
very  soon  after  the  Federal  occupation,  assumed  a  busy 
aspect.  Steamboats  with  all  needed  supplies  came  down 


A  Remarkable  Adventure.  113 

the  river,  I  came  near  saying,  in  fleets.  Many  visitors 
came  from  the  North,  some  to  see  friends  in  the  army, 
some  to  see  the  newly-captured  stronghold,  some  to  look 
up  new  fields  for  trade  and  speculation,  and  some  came 
on  the  sad  mission  of,  if  possible,  finding  the  bit  of  earth 
that  hid  from  view  the  remains  of  fallen  loved  ones. 

General  Logan,  who  commanded  within  the  limits  of 
Vicksburg  after  its  surrender,  had  his  headquarters  in 
the  Court  House,  which,  from  its  location  on  a  high  hill, 
was  a  conspicuous  object.  Over  the  dome  of  the  Court 
House  floated  the  flag  of  the  45th  Illinois  Infantry 
Volunteers,  an  organization  that  was  given  the  advance 
when  General  Logan's  Division  entered  Vicksburg  after 
its  surrender  and  took  possession.  The  45th  Illinois 
was  thus  honored  because  its  members,  many  of  whom 
were  miners,  had,  during  the  siege,  performed  a  great 
deal  of  duty  of  an  exceptionally  hazardous  nature. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  siege,  J.  W.  Spurr,  Company 
B,  145th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers,  became  the  hero 
of  a  most  remarkable  adventure.  He,  somehow,  man- 
aged to  get  possession  of  an  old  Confederate  uniform 
and  going  to  the  Mississippi  River  at  the  extreme  left  of 
our  lines  went  in  the  water  during  a  heavy  rainstorm 
after  night  and  swam  north,  past  the  pickets  of  both 
friend  and  foe.  Then,  upon  going  ashore  he  at  once 
went  to  some  Confederates  who  were  gathered  about  a 
campfire  and  engaged  them  in  conversation.  Later  he 
left  them  and  went  to  a  house  and  asked  for  something 
to  eat  which  was  refused  in  consequence  of  the  fact  that, 
at  that  particular  time,  eatables  in  Vicksburg  were  at  a 
very  high  premium.  Finally,  however,  with  the  per- 
suasive influence  of  a  five-dollar  bill  both  food  and  lodg- 
ing for  the  time  being  were  secured. 


Muskets  and  Medicine. 


Young  Spurr's  hostess  was  an  Irish  woman,  who  was 
found  to  be  a  Union  sympathizer,  and  who  proved  her 
fidelity  by  warning  her  guest  that  he  was  being  watched. 
Consequently,  after  spending  three  days  in  the  beleag- 
uered city  the  daring  adventurer,  after  night,  found  his 
way  to  the  river's  bank  south  of  the  city,  went  in  the 
water  and  swam  and  floated  down  past  the  pickets  of  foe 
and  friend  alike,  and  upon  reaching  the  Union  lines  was 
promptly  arrested,  but  upon  establishing  his  identity  was 
as  promptly  released. 

It  is,  perhaps,  not  too  much  to  say  that  this  feat  had 
few,  if  indeed  any,  parallels  in  either  army  during  the 
whole  period  of  the  Civil  War's  four  years'  history. 
That  an  eighteen-year-old  boy,  on  his  own  intiative  and 
impelled  by  nothing  save  curiosity  and  innate  dare-devil- 
try, should  plan,  undertake  and  successfully  execute  such 
a)  hazardous  feat  as  that  of  young  Spurr,  is  hard  to  be- 
lieve. As  to  credibility,  however,  the  reader  can  rest 
assured  that  the  above  is  absolutely  true,  and  can  be 
verified  by)  the  best  of  evidence.  J.  W.  Spurr,  the  hero 
of  the  adventure,  is  a  well-preserved  veteran,  and  has  his 
home  in  Rock  Island,  111. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

\ 
RUNNING  THE  VICKSBURG  BATTERIES. 

"You  should  have  seen  him  as  he  trod 
The  deck,  our  joy  and  pride." 

— SELECTED. 

SECOND  in  interest  only  to  the  operations  of  the  Army 
of  the  Tennessee  in  the  Vicksburg  campaign  was  that  of 
the  Mississippi  Flotilla  under  Commodore  Porter,  whose 
achievements  were,  for  the  most  part,  coincident  and 
co-operative  with  those  of  the  land  force. 

Of  special  interest  was  the  passing  of  the  Confederate 
batteries  at  Vicksburg  some  months  prior  to  the  fall  of 
that  stronghold.  For  a  year  or  more  preceding  the  lat- 
ter event,  De  Soto,  La.,  the  terminus  of  the  Vicksburg 
&  Shreveport  Railway  had  been  in  the  possession  of  the 
Federals;  consequently,  the  rich  tribute  to  the  Confed- 
eracy of  corn  and  cattle  from  Western  Louisiana  and 
Texas  came,  for  the  most  part,  down  the  Red  River  by 
steamboat,  and  thence  up  the  Mississippi  to  Natchez, 
Grand  Gulf  and  Vicksburg,  or  below  to  Port  Hudson, 
and  from  these  points  was  distributed  throughout  the 
South. 

To  destroy  the  vessels  plying  in  this  service  became,  in 
the  early  part  of  1863,  a  cherished  object  with  the  Fed- 
erals. With  this  end  in  view,  Colonel  Charles  R.  Ellet 
was  ordered  to  run  the  Vicksburg  batteries  with  the  ram 
Queen  of  the  West.  This  vessel  was  not  built  originally 
for  the  naval  service,  but  was  a  strong  fleet  freight 
steamer.  Her  prow  had  been  strengthened  and  armed 
with  a  strong  iron  beak,  her  boilers  and1  machinery  were 

(115) 


116  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

protected  with  three  hundred  bales  of  cotton,  and  she 
was  armed  with  both  heavy  and  light  pieces  of  artillery, 
a  full  complement  of  rifles,  pistols  and  cutlasses,  and, 
beside  her  crew,  had  aboard  twenty-six  soldiers. 

Lying  under  the  Vicksburg  batteries  was  a  Confed- 
erate transport,  The  City  of  Vicksburg,  whose  destruc- 
tion was  named  as  one  of  Ellet's  first  errands.  Early  in 
the  morning  of  February  2,  1863,  the  Queen  of  the  West 
passed  round  the  bend,  and  under  a  full  head  of  steam, 
made  for  the  Confederate  vessel  tied  to  the  wharf  in 
front  of  the  city,  for  which  she  was  named.  The  strong 
beak  of  the  Queen  struck  the  City  of  Vicksburg  with 
terrific  force,  but  the  great  projection  of  the  guards  of 
the  latter  protected  her  hull  and  prevented  the  infliction 
of  vital  injury.  Meantime,  the  current  swept  the  stern 
of  the  Queen  around  so  that  she  came  alongside  the 
transport,  when  a  full  broadside  of  turpentine  balls  was 
discharged  into  the  City  of  Vicksburg.  But  as  the  fire 
from  the  Confederates  had,  meanwhile,  grown  warm  and 
had  already  set  on  fire  bales  of  cotton  upon  the  Queen, 
this  vessel  continued  on  down  the  river  while  the  burning 
bales  were  thrown  overboard  before  the  flames  did  other 
damage. 

The  Queen  had  the  good  fortune  to  destroy  on  this 
expedition  three  Confederate  transports,  but  running 
short  of  fuel  in  about  a  week,  she  returned  up  the  river. 
From  the  fleet  above,  a  barge  of  coal  was  set  afloat  one 
evening  that  reached  the  Queen  in  safety. 

On  the  10th  of  February  Colonel  Ellet  again  started 
down  the  river,  taking  with  him  as  tender,  the  De  Soto, 
a  small  vessel  captured  by  the  soldiers  on  the  Louisiana 
side  of  the  river  just  below  Vicksburg.  This  vessel  had 
formerly  been  used  as  a  ferryboat  between  De  Soto,  the 


Running  the  Batteries.  117 

terminus  of  the  Vicksburg  &  Shreveport  Railroad,  and 
Vicksburg.  The  Red  River  was  entered  and  a  small 
steamboat,  the  Era,  captured  from  the  Confederates. 
Further  up  this  stream  was  a  small  Confederate  work, 
Fort  Taylor ;  this  the  Queen  designed  to  destroy,  but  had 
the  misfortune  to  run  aground  when  within  point-blank 
range  of  the  enemy's  guns,  and  in  such  a  position  as  to 
render  her  own  cannon  unavailable.  Under  the  circum- 
stances there  seemed  nothing  left  for  Ellet  and  his  men 
but  to  abandon  the  Queen  and  endeavor  to  float  down  on 
cotton  bales  to  the  De  Soto,  one  mile  below.  This  was 
successfully  done,  but  the  De  Soto,  from  some  accident 
to  her  steering  apparatus,  became  unmanageable,  and  had 
to  be  abandoned  and  blown  up. 

Meantime,  all  hands  had  gone  aboard  the  captured 
vessel,  the  Era,  but  as  she  was  in  a  damaged  condition, 
poor  progress  was!  made  against  the  rapid  current  of  the 
Mississippi,  when  that  river  was  reached.  But  all  haste 
possible  was  made,  as  it  was  known  the  swift  and  power- 
ful Confederate  gunboat  Webb  was  only  sixty  miles  up 
Red  River,  and  would  probably  pursue.  There  was  no 
fuel  available  but  wet  cypress  wood  and  ears  of  corn,  and 
consequently  poor  time  was  made.  A  vessel  was  now 
descried  which  proved  to  be  the  powerful  Federal  gun- 
boat Indianola.  The  latter  came  alongside  the  Era,  fur- 
nishing her  with  fuel  and  other  necessaries.  Meantime,  a 
vessel  hove  in  sight  from  below,  that  turned  out  to  be 
the  Confederate  gunboat  Webb  in  pursuit  of  the  Era. 
The  latter  was  dispatched  up  the  river  and  the  Indianola 
gave  chase  to  the  Webb,  but  this  vessel  evaded  her  pur- 
suer. 

The  Indianola  had  run  the  Vicksburg  batteries  the 
night  of  February  13.  At  the  appointed  time  all  lights 


118  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

were  turned  down,  and  with  no  motion  from  her  wheels, 
she  drifted  down  in  the  darkness  with  the  current  and 
almost  touched/  the  levee  at  Vicksburg.  Lights  were 
burning  all  over  the  city,  men  were  passing  all  about  and 
a  chain  of  guards  were  on  duty  next  the  water's  edge. 
All  these  were  talking,  and  the  sound  of  their  voices  was 
plainly  heard  on  the  Indianola.  Presently,  however,  a 
soldier  on  duty  near  a  lighted  fire  saw  a  dark,  moving 
mass  on  the  water  and  discharged  his  piece;  this  was 
followed  by  many  musket  shots,  and  the  Indianola,  now 
putting  on  steam,  became  a  target  for  the  gunners  beside 
the  heavy  Columbiads  at  the  edge  of  the  bluff.  She, 
however,  received  but  little  damage,  and  passed  on  down 
the  river,  and  rescued  the  Era,  as  before  narrated.  After 
this  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River  was  reached,  and  this 
stream  ascended  for  a  time,  when  it  was  learned  the 
Queen  of  the  West  had  undergone  repairs  at  the  hands 
of  the  Confederates)  and  might  be  expected  down  at  any 
time.  As  the  latter  vessel,  with  the  Webb,  would  be 
more  than  a  match  for  the  Indianola,  this  gunboat  turned! 
about,  ran  down  to  the  mouth  of  Red  River,  and  from 
thence  up  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  the  Big  Black 
River.  The  last-mentioned  stream  it  was  designed  to 
enter  and  ascend  as  far  as  the  Vicksburg  &  Jackson  Rail- 
way Bridge,  which  structure  it  was  the  intention  to 
destroy. 

Toward  night  of  February  24  two  vessels  approached 
from  below,  which  proved  to  be  the  Confederate  gunboat 
Webb,  and  ram,  Queen  of  the  West.  The  Indianola  re- 
treated up  the  river  to  near  New  Carthage,  when  she 
turned  about  to  attack  her  antagonists.  The  Confederate 
vessels  contrived  to  ram  the  Indianola  a  number  of 
times,  till  she  was  reduced  to  a  sinking  condition  and 


A  Most  Efficient  "Dummy."  119 

was  run  ashore  and  surrendered.  The  Federal  vessel 
thus  lost  was  one  of  the  best  on  the  river  and  had  been 
built  but  a  short  time, 

The  Queen  of  the  West  ascended  the  river  as  far  as 
Warrenton,  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  picket  to  the  Confed- 
erate navy.  Meantime,  the  Confederates  were  making 
strenuous  efforts  to  raise  and  refit  the  Indianola.  Two 
or  three  days  after  the  surrender  of  the  latter  vessel,  the 
Webb  came  hurrying  down  the  river  with  orders  for  the 
Indianola  to  be  blown  up  at  once,  as  a  powerful  Federal 
gunboat  had  run  the  Vicksburg  batteries,  and  was  now 
on  her  way  downj  the  river,  bent  on  the  capture  and  de- 
struction of  all  Confederate  craft.  As  soon  as  this 
message  was  delivered  the  Indianola  was  blown  up  and 
the  Queen  retreated  up  Red  River,  whither  she  was  pre- 
ceded by  the  rest  of  the  Confederate  fleet. 

But  what  of  the  terrible  gunboat  that  created  so  much 
consternation  with  the  Confederates,  causing  them  to  re- 
tire their  movable  vessels  up  Red  River  and  blow  up  the 
superb  Indianola? 

A  few  days  prior  to  this  action  by  the  Confederates 
Commodore  Porter  had  fitted  up  the  hulk  of  an  old  flat- 
boat  in  imitation  of  a  gunboat.  Pork  barrelsi  were  piled 
up  in  the  form  of  smokestacks,  and  through  them  poured 
quantities  of  smoke  from  mud  furnaces  beneath.  A  dark 
coat  of  paint  and  some  further  imitation  work  made  the 
resemblance  to  a  gunboat  complete,  and  one  dark  night 
this  dummy  was  set  adrift  in  the  current  of  the  river 
just  above  Vicksburg.  The  Confederate  batteries  fired 
at  her  with  much  vigor,  but  some  way  all  missed  the 
mark,  and  the  "gunboat"  of  such  powerful  aspect  passed 
by  unharmed;  and  by  the  Star  of  the  West,  word  was 
hurriedly  sent  down  the  river  for  the,  destruction  of  the 


120  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Indianola.  Two  months  later  the  Queen  of  the  West 
was  blown  up  to  obviate  falling  into  Federal  hands,  and 
about  the  time  the  Confederacy  was  going  to  pieces  in 
April,  1865,  the  Webb,  loaded  with  cotton,  ran  out  of 
Red  River,  thence  down  the  Mississippi,  past  several 
gunboats  and  even  past  New  Orleans,  but  being  at  last 
intercepted  by  the  Brooklyn,  ran  ashore  and  was  set  on 
fire. 

The  daring  of  this  adventure  of  the  Webb  excited 
much  interest  at  the  time  in  General  Canby's  department. 

About  the  middle  of  March,  1863,  Commodore  Farra- 
gut  succeeded  in  passing  the  Port  Hudson  batteries  with 
two  of  his  vessels,  and  about  a  week  later  communicated 
from  just  below  Vicksburg  with  Commodore  Porter's 
fleet  just  above.  Needing  some  re-enforcements  in  the 
way  of  vessels,  Farragut  asked  for  some  from  the  fleet 
of  Porter.  Early  on  the  morning  of  March  25,  Colonel 
Charles  R.  Ellet,  with  the  Switzerland,  and  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  John  A.  Ellet,  with  the  Lancaster,  ran  the  Vicks- 
burg batteries.  The  Switzerland  was  destroyed,  but 
most  of  her  crew  escaped  on  cotton  bales.  The  Lancas- 
ter succeeded  in  passing,  but  in  a  much  damaged  condi- 
tion. 

The  passage  of  the  Vicksburg  batteries  by  a  fleet  of 
gunboats  and  transports  the  night  of  April  16,  and  by 
another  the  night  of  April  22,  has  been  elsewhere  re- 
ferred to.  The  success  of  these  attempts  greatly  facili- 
tated the  carrying  out  of  Grant's  plans  in  his  operations 
against  Vicksburg.  Indeed,  in  nearly  all  General  Grant's 
important  battles  and  campaigns  in  the  West  he  leaned 
heavily  upon  the  navy,  and  it  ever  gave  him  cheerful  and 
timely  support, 


Major  George  W.  Kennard,  late  Commander  of  the  steamer 
"Horizon,"  which  ran  the  Vicksburg  batteries  on  the  night  of 

April  22,  1863. 

(See  page  121) 


Captain  Kennard's  Report.  121 

One  of  the  vessels  which  ran  the  Vicksburg  blockade, 
the  Horizon,  was  commanded  by  Captain  George  W. 
Kennard  of  the  20th  Illinois  Infantry.  Captain  Kennard 
volunteered  immediately  after  Fort  Sumter  was  fired  on, 
and  served  continuously  till  the  war  ended,  four  years 
later.  He  was  severely  wounded  at  Fort  Donelson, 
attained  the  rank  of  Major  before  the  war  ended ;  is  now 
(1917)  a  finely  preserved  octogenarian,  and  resides  in 
Champaign,  111.,  where  he  enrolled  his  name  as  a  volun- 
teer, now  about  fifty-six  years  ago.  Following  is  his 
report  of  what  transpired  while  he  was  in  command  of 
the  Horizon: 

STEAMER  HORIZON,  New  Carthage,  Louisiana,  April  23,  1863. 

COLONEL  : — I  have  the  honor  to  report  that,  in  compliance  with 
Special  Orders,  No.  Ill,  Headquarters  Department  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, the  steamer  Horizon,  leaving  Milliken's  Bend  at  9  P.M., 
22d  inst.,  steamed  down  the  Mississippi  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Yazoo  River,  where  she  remained  in  the  channel  until  signaled 
to  pass  the  Vicksburg  batteries,  then  steamed  slowly  down  to  the 
bend,  where  she  put  on  a  full  head  of  steam.  In  passing  the 
first  battery  she  received  two  shots,  one  through  her  derrick  and 
one  through  her  smokestack,  larboard  side.  At  the  second  bat- 
tery she  received  two  shots  through  her  bulkhead.  At  the  next 
battery  she  received  two  shots  on  hurricane  deck,  and,  in  all, 
while  under  fire,  passing  Vicksburg  batteries,  about  fifteen  or 
sixteen  shots,  all  forward  and  above  boiler  deck,  except  one 
through  her  cabin  midships.  When  arriving  below  our  pickets, 
she  hailed  the  steamer  Moderator  and  found  she  was  disabled, 
and  attempted  to  go  to  her  assistance,  but  being  unable  to  reach 
her,  passed  down  to  within  two  miles  of  the  Warrenton  Battery, 
and  landed  where  the  flag-ship  had  gone  down,  at  which  time  the 
Anglo-Saxon  was  seen  floating  by  in  a  disabled  condition.  The 
Horizon,  being  ordered  to  bring  her  in,  followed  her  till  within 
range  of  Warrenton  Battery,  drawing  their  fire,  while  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  floated  by  almost  unnoticed,  when  she  returned  to  the 
Tigress,  and  was  ordered  to  pass  Warrenton  Battery  and  report 
at  New  Carthage. 


122  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

At  daylight,  the  Horizon  had  passed  the  battery,  it  firing  seven- 
teen rounds,  none  doing  any  damage  except  the  last,  which  struck 
the  wheel  rudder,  larboard  side,  damaging  it  considerably.  When 
out  of  range  of  Warrenton  Battery,  the  Horizon  came  up  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon,  took  her  in  tow,  and  floated  down  within 
signaling  distance  of  New  Carthage,  and  having  given  the  proper 
signals,  cut  loose  from  the  Anglo-Saxon,  which  was  then  taken 
in  tow  by  steamer  Silver  Wave,  sent  out  from  New  Carthage. 
The  Horizon  then  steamed  up  and  reported  to  General  J.  A. 
McClernand,  at  New  Carthage. 

The  only  casualty  on  board  the  Horizon  was  Private  (George) 
McElvain,  Company  B,  Twenty-third  Indiana,  slightly  wounded 
in  the  head. 

I  am  pleased  to  say  that,  while  we  were  under  fire,  every  man 
was  at  his  post,  doing  his  duty.  Each  is  deserving  credit  for 
coolness  and  good  conduct.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  recommend- 
ing to  you  for  favor  the  names  of  Lieutenant  James  D.  Vernay. 
Eleventh  Illinois  Infantry,  Lieutenant  Jesse  Roberds,  Twenty- 
first  Illinois  Infanty,  Nathan  Collins,  Second  Indiana  Cavalry, 
and  James  H.  Cuers,  Twenty-third  Indiana  Infantry,  each  of 
whom  stood  at  his  post  and  discharged  his  duties  while  under 
fire  with  a  coolness  and  courage  which  deserves  much  praise. 
Pilots  Collins  and  Curts,  and  P.  Vancil,  Thirty-first  Illinois  In- 
fantry, mate,  are  each  of  them  experienced  river  men,  and  are 
also  trusty  and  reliable. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

G.  W.  KENNARD, 

Captain  Twentieth  Illinois,  Commanding  Steamer  Horizon. 
COL.  CLARK  B.  LAGOW,  Commanding  Fleet. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PERSONNEL  OF  OUR  HOSPITAL  STAFF. 
"In  the  multitude  of  counselors  there  is  safety." 

— SOLOMAN. 

"By  medicine  may  life  be  prolonged, 
Yet  death  will  seize  the  doctor." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

THE  infantry  Civil  War  regiment  was  made  up  of 
ten  companies  of  about  a  hundred  men  each,  so  that  the 
larger  organization  contained  about  one  thousand  men. 
However,  most  of  the  newly-formed  regiments  totaled 
about  nine  hundred.  One  Colonel,  one  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel and  one  Major  made  up  the  field  officers;  and  the 
Quartermaster,  Chaplain,  Adjutant,  Surgeon,  First  As- 
sistant Surgeon  and  Second  Assistant  Surgeon  comprised 
the  staff  officers.  The  Surgeon  had  the  rank  of  Major, 
and  to  designate  this  wore  a  gold  leaf  on  either  shoulder 
strap.  The  First  Assistant  Surgeon  ranked  as  Captain, 
and  had  four  bars  on  either  shoulder  strap.  The  Second 
Assistant  Surgeon  had  the  rank  of  First  Lieutenant,  and 
wore  two  bars  on  his  shoulder  straps. 

Our  Regimental  Surgeon,  Dr.  L.  K.  Wilcox,  came  to 
us  from  Warsaw,  111.,  then  an  important  Mississippi 
River  town,  where  he  practised  his  profession.  He  was 
an  Irishman,  small  in  stature,  with  a  red  face,  reddish 
hair  and  sandy  moustache.  He  was  about  thirty-five 
years  of  age,  a  graduate  of  Missouri  Medical  College, 
now  identified  with  Washington  University,  where  he 
had  for  a  classmate,  and  which  he  took  pride  in  telling, 
the  celebrated  Rosa  Bonheur,  later  the  distinguished 

(123) 


124  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

painter  of  animals,  It  was  long  before  the  day  of  co- 
education of  the  sexes,  consequently,  it  was  very  much 
out  of  the  usual  to  have  a  woman  in  attendance  upon 
medical  lectures. 

Dr.  Wilcox,  notwithstanding  his  inferior  stature,  was 
dignified ;  had  a  good  deal  of  executive  ability  and  man- 
aged his  department  with  no  little  skill.  He  was,  fur- 
thermore, an  eminently  practical  man,  and  operated  with 
a  considerable  degree  of  dexterity. 

He  was  always  neatly  dressed,  was  an  inveterate 
smoker,  and  had  a  very  full  under  lip,  which  not  infre- 
quently assumed  a  sort  of  pouting  aspect,  and  which  I 
can  close  my  eyes  and  see  as  plainly  as  if  the  protuberant 
member  was  before  me,  although  it  was  fifty-three  years 
ago  that  it  was  first  photographed  on  the  tablets  of  my 
memory. 

Dr.  Wilcox  was  a  devout  Catholic,  and  always  crossed 
himself  before  partaking  of  food.  He  did  this  so 
adroitly,  however,  that  the  uninitiated  were  none  the 
wiser. 

Dr.  David  Wilkins  was  our  First  Assistant  Surgeon. 
His  home  was  in  Greenville,  Bond  County,  111.,  where  he 
left  a  growing  family  and  a  good  practice  to  serve  his 
country.  He  was  a  graduate  of  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  was  about  forty  years  of 
age,  and  was  better  versed  in  his  profession  than  most 
physicians  of  that  day.  He  was  of  the  average  height, 
but  was  slender  and,  consequently,  looked  taller  than  he 
really  was.  Dr.  Wilkins  was  a  quiet,  modest  man  who 
had  little  to  say.  He,  however,  commanded  the  respect 
of  all,  and  his  friends  always  thought  he  should  have  had 
a  position  of  full  surgeon.  In  the  fall  of  1863,  after  giv- 
ing us  most  excellent  service,  he  resigned  from  our  regi- 


Our  Surgeons.  125 


ment  and  became  surgeon  of  a  colored  organization  with 
the  rank  of  Major. 

Our  first  Second  Assistant  Surgeon  was  a  Dr.  Barry, 
who  met  with  bad  luck  not  long  after  joining  our  regi- 
ment. As  elsewhere  noted,  on  our  first  trip  down  the 
Mississippi  River  to  Memphis,  Tenn.,  in  the  fall  of  1862, 
on$  of  our  men,  who  had  a  slight  ailment,  died  very 
suddenly,  and  Dr.  Barry  was,  by  some,  said  to  have  been 
responsible  for  this.  But,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
truth  of  this  report,  he  very  soon  after  resigned  and  re- 
turned to  civil  life. 

Not  long  after  reaching  Memphis,  late  in  1862,  as 
before  narrated,  our  regiment  suffered  from  a  great  deal 
of  sickness,  and  our  medical  department  was  worked  to 
the  limit,  but  through  it  all  we  had  no  Second  Assistant 
Surgeon.  However,  about  June  1,  1863,  while  we  were 
in  the  thick  of  the  Vicksburg  Siege,  one  came  to  us. 
This  was  Dr.  W.  F.  Sigler,  whose  home  was  in  Flora, 
Clay  County,  111.  Dr.  Sigler  was  six  feet  tall,  well 
formed,  and  must  have  weighed  more  than  two  hundred! 
pounds,  consequently  he  was  "dubbed"  the  "heavy- 
weight" of  the  Hospital  department.  He  wore  side 
whiskers  (Burnsides),  and  always  kept  his  chin  and 
upper  lip  clean-shaven.  He  was  a  thoughtful  man,  well 
on  towards  forty  years  of  age,  intelligent,  but  was  not  a 
medical  graduate.  In  his  professional  work  he  had  some 
set-phrases,  and  one  of  these  I  shall  never  forget.  Fre- 
quently when  a  soldier  consulted  him  and  would  ask  why 
he  had  this,  that  or  the  other  symptom,  Dr.  Sigler  would 
answer  by  saying:  "O,  that  is  owing  to  the  debilitated 
condition  of  your  system."  The  very  next  patient  would 
want  to  know  why  he  felt  so  and  so,  and  out  would  come 
the  same  stereotyped  reply,  "O,  that  is  owing  to  the  de- 


126  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

bilitated  condition  of  your  system."  And  so  on,  from 
patient  to  patient,  and  from  day  to  day  this  "canned" 
(professional?)  opinion  was  made  to  do  service. 

As  said  above,  the  Surgeon,  First  Assistant  Surgeon 
and  Second  Assistant  Surgeon,  had  respectively,  the  rank 
of  Major,  Captain  and  First  Lieutenant,  were  commis- 
sioned by  the  Governor  of  the  State  and  were  hence 
known  as  commissioned  officers.  All  officers  below  a 
second  lieutenant  received  warrants  signed  by  the  Col- 
onel, and  were  hence  called  wow-commissioned  officers. 
One  of  the  highest  ranking  non-commissioned  officers 
was  the  Hospital  Steward,  who  with  the  Sergeant-Major, 
Commissary-Sergeant  and  Quartermaster-Sergeant  com- 
prised the  wow-commissioned  staff  of  the  regiment. 

While  our  surgeons  were  fully  up  to  the  average  in 
ability  and  attainments,  yet  they  had  never  so  much  as 
seen  a  hypodermic  syringe,  a  fever  thermometer  or  a 
trained  nurse;  for  the  very  good  and  sufficient  reason 
that  none  of  these  were  in  existence.  And  that  they  had 
never  so  much  as  heard  of  an  X-ray  machine  or  a  blood- 
pressure  apparatus,  goes  without  the  saying,  for  the  com- 
ing of  these  was,  as  yet,  many  years  in  the  future.  But, 
notwithstanding  these  limitations  "there  were  giants  in 
those  days."  There  were  such  internalists  as  Austin 
Flint,  of  New  York;  George  B.  Wood,  of  Philadelphia; 
N.  S.  Davis,  of  Chicago,  and  others  of  equal  note — great 
teachers,  all  of  them.  And  there  were  such  surgeons  as 
Valentine  Mott,  of  New  York ;  S.  D.  Gross,  of  Philadel- 
phia; Moses  Gunn,  of  Detroit;  Daniel  Brainard,  of  Chi- 
cago; Reuben  D.  Mussey,  of  Cincinnati;  John  T.  Hod- 
gen,  of  St.  Louis,  and  others  of  their  kind.  And  all  of 
whom  had  taught  the  medical  men,  who,  with  their 
regiments,  were  at  the  front.  Yet,  not  one  of  these  able 


A  Student  of  Medicine.  127 

men  knew  anything  of  the  germ  theory  of  diseases,  and, 
perhaps,  had  never  so  much  as  heard  of  the  term  bac- 
teriology, 

These  facts  being  true,  what  wonder  is  it  that  the 
Civil  War  Regimental  Surgeon  knew  nothing  of  asepsis 
and  antisepsis,  and  that  he  was  totally  ignorant  of  the 
true  nature  of  infection  and  devoid  of  knowledge  to  pre- 
vent its  spread  ?  True,  Joseph  Lister,  then  at  Edinburgh, 
Scotland,  was  doing  pioneer  work  in  the  field  of  asepsis 
and  antisepsis,  but  his  efforts  had,  as  yet,  been  given  no 
recognition.  True,  Pasteur  had  begun  his  era-making 
work  in  demonstrating  the  fact  that  germs  were  the  true 
seeds  of  disease,  and  were  ever  and  incessantly  active  in 
its  spread,  but  the  world  had  not  yet  heard;  and  of  those 
who  did  hear,  the  most  did  not  heed. 

Our  first  Hospital  Steward  was  James  M.  Miller,  of 
Greenville,  111.,  where  he  had  served  an  apprenticeship 
in  his  father's  drug  store,  and  where  he  now  resides  andi 
has  the  reputation  of  being  the  wealthiest  man  in  his 
county.  As  Ward  Master  of  the  Regimental  Hospital  I 
served  a  sort  of  apprenticeship  under  Hospital  Steward 
Miller,  and  later,  when  he  saw  fit  to  become  a  commis- 
sioned officer  in  a  colored  regiment,  I  succeeded  to  his 
position.  This  was  not  because  I  was  as  well  qualified 
for  the  place  as  I  should  have  been,  but  because  I  was 
the  best  fitted  for  it  of  anyone  who  was  available.  I 
had  had  a  little  Latin,  a  little  chemistry,  a  little  physics, 
a  little  higher  mathematics  before  joining  the  army,  and: 
very  shortly  after  I  entered  I  began  familiarizing  myself 
with  drugs  and  chemicals,  and  with  such  other  duties  as 
might  fall  to  the  lot  of  a  hospital  attache.  Indeed,  I 
studied  so  hard  that  sometimes  things  became  confused 
in  my  mind.  A  condition  not  always  any  too  safe  to 


128  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

work  under,  as  my  experience  with  our  cook,  as  narrated 
in  another  chapter,  will  show.1 

We  had  a  few  medical  books,  among  which  I  recall 
"Pareria's  Materia  Medica,"  "Mendenhall's  Vade  Me- 
cum,"  a  work  on  chemistry;  "Parishes'  Pharmacy,"  and 
"Gray's  Anatomy,"  then  a  new  work  just  out.  The 
illustrations  in  Gray  were  a  very  great  improvement  on 
all  that  had  gone  before,  and  consequently  this  work 
took,  and  long  held,  a  high  place  among  medical  publica- 
tions. 

But  few  as  were  the  books  and  many  as  were  the 
handicaps,  I,  then  and  there,  began  the  study  of  medi- 
cine, and,  on  the  whole,  I  never  before  or  since  passed 
any  happier  days,  and  I  really  worked  and  studied  with 
no  little  enthusiasm. 


See  Chapter  XIV. 


Charles  B.  Johnson,  age  21,  Hospital  Steward, 
130th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

EQUIPMENT,  WORK,  AND  SOME  ATTACHES  OF 
OUR  REGIMENTAL  HOSPITAL. 

"A  mighty  arsenal  to  subdue  disease, 
Of  various  names,  whereof  I  mention  these : 
Lancets  and  bougies,  great  and  little  squirt, 
Rhubarb  and  senna,  snakeroot,  thoroughwort — " 

— OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 

IN  the  field  the  Regimental  Hospital  department  was 
allowed  two  small  tents  for  the  officers,  medicines,  etc. ; 
another  small  tent  for  the  kitchen  department  and  sup- 
plies, and  a  larger  one  for  the  sick.  This  last,  known  as 
the  hospital  tent,  was  about  fourteen  feet  square  and  was 
capable  of  containing  eight  cots  with  as  many  patients. 

In  the  field  we  almost  never  had  sheets  and  white  pil- 
low cases,  but  made  use  of  army  blankets  that  were  made 
of  the  coarsest,  roughest  fiber  imaginable.  In  warm 
weather  the  walls  of  the  tent  were  raised,  which  made 
it  much  more  pleasant  for  the  occupants. 

However,  the  policy  that  obtained  was  to  send  those 
who  were  not  likely  to  recover  quickly  to  the  base  hos- 
pitals, though  this  was  not  always  to  the  patient's  best 
interests,  for  these  larger  hospitals  were  oftentimes  cen- 
ters of  infection  of  one  kind  or  another,  especially  of 
hospital  gangrene,  which  seldom  attacked  the  wounded 
in  the  field. 

During  a  campaign  our  stock  of  medicines  was  neces- 
sarily limited  to  standard  remedies,  among  which  could 
be  named  opium,  morphine,  Dover's  powder,  quinine, 
rhubarb,  Rochelle  salts,  Epsom  salts,  castor  oil,  sugar  of 

»  (129) 


130  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

lead,  tannin,  sulphate  of  copper,  sulphate  of  zinc,  cam- 
phor, tincture  of  opium,  tincture  of  iron,  tincture  opii, 
camphorata,  syrup  of  squills,  simple  syrup,  alcohol, 
whiskey,  brandy,  port  wine,  sherry  wine,  etc.  Upon 
going  into  camp,  where  we  were  likely  to  remain  a  few 
days,  these  articles  were  unpacked  and  put  on  temporary 
shelves  made  from  box-lids;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
when  marching  orders  came,  the  medicines  were  again 
packed:  in  boxes,  the  bottles  protected  from  breaking  by 
old  papers,  etc. 

Practically  all  the  medicines  were  administered  in 
powder  form  or  in  the  liquid  state.  Tablets  had  not  yet 
come  into  use,  and  pills  were  very  far  from  being  as 
plentiful  as  they  are  today.  The  result  was  that  most 
powders  were  stirred  in  water  and  swallowed.  In  the 
case  of  such  medicine  as  quinine,  Dover's  powder,  tannin, 
etc.,  the  dose,  thus  prepared,  was  a  bitter  one.  The  bro- 
mides, sulfonal,  trional  and  similar  soporifices  and  seda- 
tives, had  not  come  in  use,  and  asafetida,  valerian  and 
opium  and  its  derivatives  were  about  all  the  Civil  War 
surgeon  had  to  relieve  nervousness  and  induce  sleep. 

Among  the  surgical  supplies  were  chloroform,  ether, 
brandy,  aromatic  spirits  of  ammonia,  bandages,  adhesive 
plaster,  needles,  silk  thread  for  ligatures,  etc.  There 
were,  also,  amputating  cases  well  supplied  with  catlins, 
artery  forceps,  bone  forceps,  scalpels,  scissors,  bullet 
probes,  a  tourniquet,  etc.  But  while  all  the  instruments 
were  washed  in  water  and  wiped  dry  to  keep  from  rust- 
ing, such  an  idea  as  making  them  aseptic  never  entered 
the  head  of  the  most  advanced  surgeon. 

There  was  an  emergency  case,  about  the  size  of  a  sol- 
dier's knapsack,  and,  indeed,  intended  to  be  carried  on 
an  attendant's  back  like  a  knapsack.  In  this  emergency 


"Laudable  Pus"  131 

case  were  bandages,  adhesive  plaster,  needles,  artery  for- 
ceps, scalpels,  spirits  of  ammonia,  brandy,  chloroform, 
ether,  etc.  This  emergency  case,  or  hospital  knapsack, 
was  always  taken  with  the  regiment  when  the  firing-line 
was  about  to  be  approached,  and  where  the  First  As- 
sistant Surgeon  was  in  charge  and  was  ready  to  render 
first  aid  to  any  who  might  be  wounded. 

This  first  aid,  however,  never  went  further  than 
staunching  bleeding  vessels  and  applying  temporary 
dressings.  Thus  attended  to,  the  wounded  were  taken 
to  an  ambulance,  and  in  this  conveyed  to  the  field  hos- 
pital in  the  rear,  generally  out  of  musket  range,  but 
almost  never  beyond  the  reach  of  shells  and  cannon  balls. 

Arrived  at  the  larger  field  hospital  the  patient  was 
cared  for  by  the  surgeons  and  male  nurses.  The  wounds 
were  examined  and  dressed,  but  never  antiseptically, 
for  no  one  knew  the  importance  of  antisepsis  or  how 
to  put  it  in  practise;  consequently,  every  wound  sup- 
purated, and  so-called  laudable  pus  was  welcomed  by 
those  in  charge  as  an  indication  that  the  patient  had 
reached  one  of  the  mile-posts  that  had  to  be  passed  on 
his  road  to  recovery.  Careful  handwashing  and  nail 
scrubbing  were  never  practised  before  operations  or  in 
dressing  recent  wounds.  And  yet,  for  the  most  part, 
the  wounds  in  the  end  healed  satisfactorily.  The 
fact  that  those  receiving  them  were,  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  cases,  vigorous  young  men  had  much  to  do  with 
the  good  results.  Here  it  may  be  proper  to  say  that  in 
the  Civil  War  by  far  the  largest  proportion  of  wounds 
were  made  with  bullets  from  what  were  called  minnie 
balls.  These  were  fired,  in  most  instances,  from  single- 
shooters  and  muzzle-loaders,  such  as  the  Springfield 
rifled  musket,  the  Enfield  rifled  musket,  the  Austrian 


132  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

rifled  musket,  etc.  These  bullets  weighed  an  ounce  or 
more,  and  the  guns  from  which  they  were  fired  would 
kill  a  man  nearly  a  mile  away,  and  that  they  produced 
large,  ugly  wounds  goes  without  saying. 

When  a  minnie  ball  struck  a  bone  it  almost  never 
failed  to  fracture  and  shatter  the  contiguous  bony  struc- 
ture, and  it  was  rarely  that  only  a  round  perforation,  the 
size  of  the  bullet,  resulted.  When  a  joint  was  the  part 
the  bullet  struck  the  results  were  especially  serious  in 
Civil  War  days.  Of  course,  the  same  was  true  of  wounds 
of  the  abdomen  and  head,  though  to  a  much  greater  de- 
gree. Indeed,  recovery  from  wounds  of  the  abdomen 
and  brainj  almost  never  occurred.  One  of  the  prime  ob- 
jects of  the  Civil  War  surgeon  was  to  remove  the  missile, 
and,  in  doing  this,  he  practically  never  failed  to  infect 
the  part  with  his  dirty  hands  and  instruments. 

When  Captain  William  M.  Colby  of  my  company  was 
brought  from  the  firing-line  to  our  Division  Hospital  he 
was  in  a  comatose  state  from  a  bullet  that  had  pene- 
trated his  brain  through  the  upper  portion  of  the  occipital 
bone.  The  first  thing  our  surgeon  did  was  to  run  his 
index  finger  its  full  length  into  the  wound ;  and  this  with- 
out even  ordinary  washing.  Next  he  introduced  a  dirty 
bullet  probe.  The  patient  died  a  day  or  two  later.  (  See 
page  103.)  These  facts  are  narrated  to  show  the  fright- 
ful handicap  Civil  War  surgery  was  under  from  a  lack 
of  knowledge  of  asepsis  and  antisepsis ;  and  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  no  reflection  is  intended  to  be  made  on  our 
surgeon,  for  he  was  making  use  of  the  very  best  lights 
of  his  day,  dangerous  as  some  of  these  were. 

Elsewhere  (see  page  99)  I  spoke  of  a  soldier  in  the 
Division  Hospital  who  had  a  bullet  wound  in  his  brain 
and  who  walked  about  for  days  in  a  half-dazed  condi- 


Shell,  Sword  and  Shot  Wounds.        133 

tion,  and  who  got  maggots  in  his  wound,  The  poor  fel- 
low finally  died,  notwithstanding  the  efforts  nature  put 
forth  for  his  recovery.  Could  these  efforts  have  been 
supplemented  by  modern  surgery  no  doubt  the  man's  life 
could  have  been  saved. 

I  think  wounds  from  bullets  were  five  times  as  fre- 
quent as  those  from  all  other  sources.  Shell  wounds 
were  next  in  frequency,  and  then  came  those  from  grape 
and  canister.  I  never  saw  a  wound  from  a  bayonet 
thrust,  and  but  one  made  by  a  sword  in  the  hands  of  an 
enemy.  In  another  chapter  a  reference  is  made  to  a 
man  who  received  a  deep  wound  in  the  upper  part  of 
his  thigh,  which,  after  some  days,  proved  fatal.  Not  long 
after  the  wound  was  received  the  parts  began  to  assume 
a  greenish  tinge  and  this  became  of  a  deeper  hue,  and 
when  after  death  the  parts  were  cut  down  upon,  a  cop- 
per tap  from  an  exploding  shell  was  found  to  be  the  ugly 
missile  which  had  inflicted  the  injury  that,  in  the  end, 
proved  fatal. 

Where  so  many  men  are  grouped  together  accidents  of 
greater  or  less  gravity  are  liable  to  occur.  On  the  whole, 
however,  our  regiment  was  fortunate.  We  lost  two  or 
three  by  drowning  and  one  by  a  steamboat  explosion,  as 
elsewhere  narrated  (see  pages  142-3),  and  I  can  recall  but 
three  who  received  accidental  bullet  wounds.  One  of 
these  was  a  pistol  shot  of  small  caliber  (see  pages  55, 
73),  and  the  other  was  from  one  of  the  Springfield  guns 
that  was  supposed  not  to  be  loaded.  Looking  back,  I  can 
but  regard  our  record  in  this  direction  as  especially 
fortunate,  when  the  handling  of  so  many  loaded  guns 
through  so  long  a  period  is  taken  into  account. 

The  only  light  vehicle  in  the  regiment  was  our  hospital 
ambulance,  already  referred  to  as  a  four-wheeled  vehicle 


134  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

with  bed  on  springs  and  covered  with  strong  ducking. 
The  rear  end-gate  opened  with  hinges  at  its  lower  part 
for  the  convenience  of  putting  in  and  taking  out  very 
sick  or  severely  injured  patients.  The  driver  of  our 
hospital  ambulance  was  a  soldier  by  the  name  of  Throg- 
mortpn,  who  knew  his  business,  and  attended  to  it.  He 
was  an  expert  horseman,  and  kept  the  pair  of  bays  under 
his  care  well-groomed  and  properly  attended  to  in  every 
way.  They  were,  to  a  degree,  spirited,  and  when  the 
occasion  called  for  it,  were  good  steppers.  Besides  serv- 
ing its  purpose  in  conveying  sick  and  wounded,  our  am- 
bulance proved  useful  as  a  sort  of  family  carriage,  upon 
several  occasions  taking  certain  of  us  well  ones  "here- 
and-yon." 

For  service  about  the  hospital  men  were  detailed  from 
the  regiment  to  serve  in  the  ;several  capacities  of  nurses, 
cooks,  and.  ambulance  drivers,  etc.  Service  of  this  kind 
was  known  as  "special  duty,"  and  not  a  few  came  to 
have  no  little  aptness  in  their  new  duties.  Especially  was 
this  true  of  the  men  who  cared  for  the  sick,  some  of 
whom  developed  quite  a  little  insight  into  disease,  and 
were  frequently  able  to  make  tolerable  diagnoses  and 
prognoses.  Our  cook  came  to  be  of  so  much  consequence 
that  he  has  been  given  a  chapter  to  himself,  which  ap- 
pears elsewhere.  (See  next  chapter.) 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

OUR  MOST  EFFICIENT  COOK  AND  How  I 
UNDID  HIM. 

"Herbs  and  other  country  messes, 
Which  the  neat-handed  Phyllis  dresses." 

— MILTON. 

"To  mourn  a  mischief  that  is  past  and  gone, 
Is  the  next  way  to  draw  new  mischief  on." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

TOM  RALPH,  who  came  from  England  when  a  boy, 
was  our  cook  at  the  Regimental  Hospital.  He  was  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  had  very  black  hair,  dark  eyes  and 
swarthy  complexion,  was  of  medium  height  and  of  stocky 
build.  He  wore  a  heavy  black  moustache  with  long 
waxed  ends  and  the  rest  of  his  face  was  kept  smoothly 
shaved  when  conditions  permitted  it.  Tom  was,  by  nat- 
ure, a  neat  dresser,  and  few  men  in  the  regiment  blacked 
their  shoes  oftener,  brushed  their  clothes  more,  and  wore 
their  military  caps  more  jauntily  than  he.  Before  the 
war  he  had  been  cook  on  a  Mississippi  River  steamboat, 
and  spent  several  years  on  the  Father  of  Waters  when 
steamboating  was  at  high  tide.  To  the  younger  hospital 
attaches,  most  of  whom  had  come  from  farms,  and  were 
ten  years,  or  more,  Tom's  junior,  our  cook  seemed  to  be 
a  much-traveled  man  who  had  seen  no  little  of  the  world. 

Tom's  steamboating  had  given  him  opportunity  to 
spend  no  little  time  in  St.  Louis,  Memphis,  New  Orleans 
and  other  Mississippi  River  cities,  and  in  these  he  had 
occasionally  attended  theatrical  plays  that  had  left  their 
impressions  on  his  mind.  He  was  an  all-around  good 

(135) 


136  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

fellow,  but  was,  nevertheless,  a  "good-feeler,"  and  not 
unconscious  of  his  superior  experience  and  worldly  wis- 
dom. Upon  occasions  he  would  strike  a  dramatic  atti- 
tude, and  with  a  butcher  knife  in  lieu  of  a  sword,  would 
exclaim,  "A  horse!  A  horse!  My  kingdom  for  a  horse!" 
At  other  times  he  would  assume  an  especially  sober, 
serious  mien,  and  repeat  from  Hamlet,  "To  be  or  not  to 
be,  that  is  the  question." 

But,  notwithstanding  his  worldly  experience  and  other 
accomplishments,  Tom  was  very  practical  and  was  an  all- 
around  good  cook,  and  kept  his  utensils  as'  clean  as  soap 
and  water  could  make  them.  Indeed,  our  chief  surgeon 
was  wont  to  say,  "Tom  is  as  nice  as1  a  woman." 

We  had  a  little  tent  in  which  was  kept  the  mess-chest 
and  other  things  culinary  in  character,  which,  of  course, 
included  our  rations  and  such  other  articles  of  diet  as 
we  might,  upon  certain  fortunate  occasions,  have  the 
good  luck  to\  procure.  Our  plates  and  cups  were  of  tin, 
likewise  our  spoons,  and  these,  with  two-pronged  forks 
and  iron  case  knives,  made  up  our  table  ware.  We  had 
one  tin  vessel  for  making  coffee  and  another  for  tea, 
and,  in  addition,  a  due  supply  of  pans,  kettles  for  cook- 
ing meat,  making  soup  and  cooking  potatoes  and  fresh 
vegetables,  on  the  rare  occasions  when  these  could  be 
procured. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  simplicity  and  plainness  of 
our  culinary  appliances,  Tom  always  "set  the  table" 
neatly  and,  considering  surroundings,  attractively,  on  the 
opened-up-and-spread-out  top  of  the  mess-chest,  and  for 
each  one  who  sat  down  was  a  clean  tin  plate  and  at  its 
left  a  clean  knife  and  fork,  and  at  its  right  a  clean  tin 
cup,  for  with  Tom,  "Order  was  Heaven's  first  law." 
Our  food  was  substantial,  but  our  menu  was,  so  to  speak, 


Civil  War  Hospital  Knapsacks.     (From  Medical  and 
Surgical  History  of  the  Civil  War.) 


Some  Civil  War  Missiles.      (From  Medical  and   Surgical 
History   of   the   Civil   War.) 

(See  page  131) 


/  Cure  Tom's  "Bilious"  Attack.         137 

monotonous.  For  breakfast,  bacon  (which  the  boys 
called  "sow-belly"),  baker's  bread  and  coffee;  for  din- 
ner, coffee,  bacon  and  bread;  and  for  supper,  bread, 
coffee,  bacon  and  so  on,  could  one  wring  the  changes 
almost  indefinitely.  But,  fortunately  for  us,  Tom  was 
resourceful,  and  for  dinner,  if  for  no  other  meal,  man- 
aged to  have  a  variety.  Today  it  would  be  corn  beef 
(which  the  boys  called  "salt  horse")  and  potatoes.  To- 
morrow fresh  beef  and  potatoes.  Next  day  we  would, 
perhaps;,  have  a  pot  of,  well-seasoned  soup,  the  principal 
ingredient  of  which  was  a  liberal  part  of  the  bony  carcass 
of  some  bovine  "critter."  At  best  the  fresh  beef  fur- 
nished us  was  nearly  always  poor,  and  as  elsewhere 
noted,  the  boys  used  to  say  the  army  beef  cattle  were  so 
poor  that  at  best  they  were  mere  "shaders" — shadows. 

When  vegetables  were  in  season  Tom  would  "skirmish 
round"  among  the  "natives"  and  get  at  one  time  a  mess 
of  beans,  at  another  cabbage;  at  still  another  turnips, 
and  sometimes  he  would  get  what  the  negroes  called 
"gumbo,"  correctly  okra,  an  unctuous  vegetable,  good  in 
soup  and  a  favorite  with  the  Southerners. 

All  Tom's  cooking  was  done  on  a  fire  built  of  sticks 
in  the  open,  and  while  we  were  eating,  a  kettle  of  water 
would  be  heating,  and  in  this,  well  saturated  with  soap, 
the  dishes  after  every  meal  were  thoroughly  washed  by 
our  always  careful  and  cleanly  cook.  Tom  came  to  be 
our  pride,  and  likewise  the  envy  of  all  the  officers' 
messes  in  the  regiment,  and  fortunate  did  the  officer  or 
soldier  deem  himself  who  was  an  invited  guest  at  our 
table. 

One  day  Tom  came  to  me  and  asked  for  a  Seidlitz 
powder  to  relieve  him  of  "biliousness."  In  response  I 
told  him  that  we  had  none  of  these,  but  I  thought  I  could 


138  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

make  one  for  him.  However,  when  it  came  to  "deliver- 
ing the  goods,"  I  felt  a  little  "shaky"  and  uncertain,  for 
I  recalled  that  one  of  the  ingredients  was  either  sodii  et 
potassii  tartras,  or  antimonii  et  potassii  tartras,  but  which 
was  which,  I  could  not,  for  the  life  of  me,  remember. 
As  we  were  about  to  break  up  and  start  on  the  march 
our  few  reference  books  were  all  packed  up,  and  further 
than  this,  there  happened  to  be  no  doctor  near  at  hand 
to  put  me  right.  As  it  was,  I  gave  the  matter  the  benefit 
of  a  doubt,  and,  of  course,  got  in  the  wrong  ingredient, 
namely,  antimonii  et  postassii  tartras.  In  plain  English, 
tartar  emetic.  When  the  mixture  was  prepared  it  was 
noticed  that  it  was  somewhat  lacking  in  "siz,"  but  Tom 
gulped  it  all  down  like  a  good  patient. 

In  a  little  while  he  complained  of  feeling  "sorter 
squeamish"  about  the  stomach,  and  later  he  vomited. 
Theni  he  vomited  and  purged  violently,  and  developed  a 
seemingly  typical  case  of  cholera  morbus.  Poor  Tom 
was  white  as  a  sheet  and  limp  as  a  rag.  Fortunately,  one 
of  the  regimental  surgeons  had  returned,  and  in  due  time 
the  patient  was  made  relatively  comfortable,  but  it  was 
two  or  three  days  before  he  recovered  his  wonted 
strength.  However,  his  attack  of  "biliousness"  was  cer- 
tainly cured! 

The  surgeon  who  attended  Tom  suspected  there  had 
been  some  mistake  and  said  so  to  me  aside.  I  "fessed  up" 
and  made  a  "clean  breast"  of  the  matter,  but  Tom 
seemed  satisfied  with  the  diagnosis  of  "cholera  morbus." 
As  for  me,  I  certainly  got  a  practical  demonstration  of 
the  difference  between  tartar  emetic  and  Rochelle  salts, 
which  I  shall  never  forget,  but  the  demonstration  was 
hard  on  poor  Tom. 


CHAPTER   XV. 
FROM  VICKSBURG  TO  NEW  ORLEANS. 

"The  war's  whole  art  each  private  soldier  knows, 
And  with  a  gen'ral's  love  of  conquest  glows." 

— ADDISON. 

THE  campaign  of  less  than  three  months'  duration  that 
ended  with  the  fall  of  Vicksburg,  July  4,  1863,  was  the 
most  brilliant  and  successful  of  the  war,  and  in  many 
respects  one  of  the  most  remarkable  achievements  in 
modern  military  history. 

Grant,  when  he  landed  at  Bruinsburg,  Miss.,  just  be- 
low Grand  Gulf,  and  some  seventy  miles  below  Vicks- 
burg, had  but  twenty  thousand  men  immediately  with 
him.  Yet,  with  this  small  force  he|  advanced  boldly  into 
the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country,  and,  by  so  doing,  put 
Vicksburg  and  a  hostile  army  of  sixty  thousand  men 
between  his  own  little  army  and  the  North.  True,  Grant 
received  an  accession  of  from  ten  to  twenty  thousand 
men  as  the  campaign  progressed,  but  meantime  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston,  one  of  the  best  of  Confederate  com- 
manders, had  assumed  control  of  the  territory  threatened, 
and  with  headquarters  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  was  harrassing 
the  invading  army  from  the  east  and  northeast,  while  at 
the  same  time  Pemberton  was  striving  to  do  likewise 
from  the  west  and  northwest. 

A  junction  of  these  forces  immediately  north  of  Grant 
would,  perhaps,  have  been  fatal  to  the  campaign,  and 
very  likely  have  seriously  compromised  the  safety  of  the 
Federal  army.  But  this  junction  Grant  prevented  by 
prompt  and  decisive  movements.  McPherson,  the  sec- 

(139) 


140  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

ond  week  in  May,  met  and  defeated  a  portion  of  John- 
ston's army  at  Raymond,  Miss.,  eighteen  miles  east  of 
Jackson,  and  two  or  three  days  later,  portions  of  the  Fif- 
teenth and  Seventeenth  Corps  defeated  Johnston  and 
drove  him  from  his  base  at  Jackson,  Miss.  Then  facing 
about  to  the  west  Grant  met  Pemberton  with  a  large 
Confederate  force  in  a  strong  position  at  Champion's 
Hill,  May  16.  The  position  was  well  chosen,  and  was 
about  half-way  between  Jackson  and  Vicksburg,  and  just 
south  of  the  railway  that  connected  the  two  places. 
However,  the  Confederates  were  overwhelmingly  de- 
feated, and  the  two  days  following  driven  within  their 
almost  impregnable  defenses  at  Vicksburg,  where,  forty- 
five  days  later,  more  than  thirty  thousand  surrendered  as 
prisoners  of  war.  Nearly  as  many  more  had  been  lost 
during  the  campaign  from  Pemberton's  army  in  killed, 
wounded,  prisoners  and  desertions. 

Shortly  after  Vicksburg  surrendered  the  Confederate 
forces,  six  or  eight  thousand  in  number,  at  Port  Hudson, 
three  hundred  miles  further  south  on  the  Mississippi 
River,  capitulated. 

The  fall  of  Vicksburg  with  the  consequent  control  of 
the  Mississippi  River  by  the  Federals,  greatly  disheart- 
ened the  Confederate  leaders  and  tended  to  convince  the 
masses  in  the  South  of  the  hopelessness  of  their  cause. 
To  use  an  expression  of  the  time,  Grant  by  taking  Vicks- 
burg had  "cut  the  Confederacy  in  two." 

Every  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Tennessee  was  espe- 
cially proud  of  the  great  achievement,  and  long  before 
the  campaign  closed  became  very  fond  of  Grant  and 
thoroughly  impressed  with  the  idea  that  he  was  the 
ablest  of  Union  generals. 


The  Colored  Soldier.  141 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  July  the  army  under  Sher- 
man returned  from  Jackson,  and  the  writer's  regiment, 
with  many  others  troops,  went  into  camp  two  miles  be- 
low Vicksburg,  immediately  on  the  river.  As  a  most 
toilsome,  dangerous  and  important  campaign  had  been 
entered  upon  and  conducted  to  an  eminently  successful 
issue,  it  was  only  meet  that  all  who  had  engaged  in  it 
should  have  and  enjoy  a  well-earned  period  of  rest.  Two 
miles  below  Vicksburg  the  bluffs  recede  a  half  mile  from 
the  river,  and  upon  the  level  ground  intervening  the 
troops  encamped.  Meantime,  their  duty  was  light,  a  lit- 
tle drill  in  the  morning  and  dress  parade  at  night. 

About  this  time  the  enlistment  of  colored  troops  (see 
page  152)  began  in  the  Department  of  the  Tennessee, 
and  the  negro,  in  the  brand  new  uniform  of  a  Union  sol- 
dier, was  looked  upon  with  curious  eyes.  A  few  of  the 
white  troops  at  first  found  fault  with  the  idea  of  utilizing 
the  colored  man  in  this  way,  but  after  a  little  all  took  it 
as  a  matter  of  course. 

While  passing  through  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  quite 
a  number  of  negroes  had  followed  the  army.  These  at 
first  were  shy,  very  respectful,  and  looked  upon  every 
Union  soldier  as  a  sort  of  saviour — a  being  whom  the 
Lord  had  sent  South  to  liberate  the  poor  down-trodden 
slave.  Following  the  army,  however,  and  observing  the 
many  human  traits  of  "Mr.  Linkum's  sojers"  soon  dis- 
abused Sambo's  mind  of  any  erroneous  first  impressions. 

My  tent  was  but  a  few  feet  from  the  river  bank,  but, 
though  there  was  overhead  a  hot  July  sun,  there  was  at 
nearly  all  times  a  delightful  breeze.  A  little  to  the  north 
was  Vicksburg,  to  the  northwest  was  the  great  bend  in 
the  river  that  made  the  peninsula  to  the  westward,  and 
across  which,  twenty  miles  distant,  the  now  victorious 


142  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

army,  three  months  before,  had  trudged  through  mud 
and  mire. 

In  my  leisure  moments  I  prosecuted  my  medical  stud- 
ies, but  sometimes  lay  idly  upon  my  cot  and  looked  out 
upon  the  great  river  as  it  swept  by  "unvexed"  to  the  sea. 
Often  great  logs  and  large  trees  floated  by  in  the  free 
current,  and  now  and  then  a  dead  horse  or  mule,  and 
occasionally  the  dead  body  of  a  man.  But  so  cheap  had 
human  life  become  as  the  war  progressed,  that  an  un- 
known body  floating  by  excited  but  little  comment.  So 
the  time  went  by,  not  unpleasantly,  but  few  were  sick 
and  these  were  made  quite  comfortable  in  the  large  hos- 
pital tent  on  the  river  bank, 

At  the  wharf  in  front  of  Vicksburg  were  always  a 
number  of  steamboats  engaged  in  receiving  and  discharg- 
ing cargoes.  About  10  A.M.  one  day  a  terrific  explosion 
was  heard  in  the  direction  of  Vicksburg,  and  looking 
toward  the  steamboat  landing,  an  immense  column  of 
smoke  and  debris  of  all  kinds  was  seen  rising  in  the  air ; 
in  a  moment  this  spread  out  and  looked  precisely  like  a 
huge  mushroom.  It  was  at  once  conjectured  that  a 
steamboat  had  blown  up,  and  as  a  detail  of  men  had  been 
made  from  our  regiment  that  morning  for  duty  at  the 
wharf,  our  surgeon  at  once  called  for  the  ambulance,  and 
in  this  we  drove  rapidly  to  the  scene  of  the  accident,  and 
upon  arriving  there  found  that  a  steamboat  loaded  with 
ammunition  had  blown  up.  Part  of  the  ammunition  con- 
sisted of  concussion  shells.  A  case  of  these,  it  was  sup- 
posed, had  fallen  through  the  gangway  from  the  deck  of 
the  steamer  to  the  bottom  of  the  hold,  when  an  explosion 
followed  that  immediately  involved  all  the  ammunition 
on  the  boat. 


A  Steamboat  Explosion.  143 

Upon  the  wharf  several  dead  bodies  were  seen  lying 
upon  the  pavement,  and  all  around  were  pieces  of  the  boat 
and  debris  of  all  kinds  that  at  the  moment  of  explosion 
had  been  thrown  in  every  direction.  A  number  were 
killed  outright,  some  were  seriously  wounded,  others 
mortally  so,  and  several  on  the  boat  were  blown  out  in 
the  river  and  afterwards  swam  ashore,  and  thus  escaped 
with  their  lives.  One  man  from  our  regiment  was  in- 
stantly killed,  and,  although  some  eight  or  ten  from  the 
same  organization  -were  assisting  in  handling  the  am- 
munition, all  but  the  one  happened  at  the  moment  to  be 
on  shore,  and  thus  escaped. 

Toward  the  latter  part  of  August  came  orders  for  the 
Thirteenth  Corps  to  go  to  New  Orleans.  Our  regiment 
embarked  on  an  excellent  river  boat,  and  made  the  trip 
most  pleasantly  to  the  place  designated,  and  went  into 
camp!  at  Carrollton,  a  suburb  of  New  Orleans. 

One  day  the  troops  were  reviewed  by  Generals  Banks 
and  Grant.  Toward  evening  of  this  day  word  was  re- 
ceived that  General  Grant  had  been  thrown  from  his 
horse  and  killed.  This  news  to  the  Thirteenth  Corps  was 
especially  unpleasant,  but  fortunately  for  the  country, 
Grant  was  not  fatally  injured. 

The  monotony  of  camp  life  at  Carrollton  was,  in  part, 
relieved  by  frequent  visits  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans, 
with  which  there  was  convenient  railway  connection. 
Those  in  command  were  lenient  in  this  direction,  and 
hence  passes  were  easily  procured. 

While  here  I  witnessed  a  military  execution.  A  col- 
ored soldier,  in  an  altercation,  had  killed  a,  comrade,  was 
tried  by  court-martial  and  sentenced  to  be  shot.  At  the 
time  appointed,  in  the  presence  of  many  troops  in  line 
upon  an  open  field,  the  condemned  man,  supported  by  a 


144  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

colored  minister  on  either  side,  walked  with  tottering 
steps  to  the  place  of  execution;  here  he  was  seated  and 
bound  in  a  chair,  beside  which  stood  an  open  coffin. 
Meantime,  a  file  of  soldiers  with  guns  lightly  charged 
took  their  places  in  his  front,  and  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand drew  up  their  pieces,  took  aim  and  fired  with  fatal 
results  to  the  criminal.  This  was  the  only  military 
execution  I  was  cognizant  of  during  my  more  than  three 
years'  service  in  the  army. 

About  the  middle  of  September  the  regimental  hos- 
pital tents  were  moved  a  short  distance  and  put  up  under 
some  graceful  live  oak  trees.  These  have  beautiful  foli- 
age, and  frequently,  near  the  ground,  divide  into  several 
branches  that  are  spreading  in  character. 

The  month  of  September  was  passed  quietly  and  lazily 
in  camp ;  rumors,  however,  were  rife  of  what  was  going 
to  be  done.  Early  in  October  our  regiment  was  ordered 
to  take  a  boat  for  Algiers,  about  ten  miles  down  the  river. 

This  order  was  obeyed  one  beautiful  Sabbath  day,  on 
the  calm  evening  of  which  the  regiment  found  itself  at 
the  wharf  of  the  place  designated. 


Hospital  Ambulance.     (From  Medical  and  Surgical 
History  of  the  Civil  War.) 


Army  Wagon  fitted  up   for  carrying  wounded.      (From 
Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  Civil  War.) 

(See  page 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

SOLDIERING  ON   BAYOU  TECHE — EVANGELINE'S 
COUNTRY. 

"On  the  banks  of  the  Teche,  are  the  towns  of  St.  Maur  and  St. 

Martin. 
There  the  long-wandering  bride  shall  be  given   again  to  her 

bridegroom, 

There  the  long-absent  pastor  regain  his  flock  and  his  sheepfold. 
Beautiful  is  the  land  with  its  forests  and  fruit-trees ; 
Under  the  feet  a  garden  of  flowers,  and  the  bluest  of  heavens 
Bending  above,  and  resting  its  dome  on  the  walls  of  the  forest, 
They  who  dwell  there  have  named  it  the  Eden  of  Louisiana." 

— LONGFELLOW'S  EVANGELINE. 

BEFORE  the  war  what  was  known  as  the  New  Orleans, 
Opelousas  &  Western  Railroad  was  completed  from  Al- 
giers, on  the  Mississippi  opposite  New  Orleans,  to  Bra- 
shear  City,  eighty  miles  west  of  the  former  place.  The 
railway  was  projected  further  west,  however,  through  a 
rich  and  beautiful  section  lying  on  Bayou  Teche,  known 
as  the  Teche  country.  Here,  from  all  the  fertile  lands 
tributary  to  Bayou  Teche,  was  produced  vast  quantities 
of  sugar,  till  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  paralyzed  this 
industry.  From  the  inception  of  the  Rebellion  till  the 
beginning  of  1863,  this  fertile  region  was  held  by  the 
Confederates. 

About  the  middle  of  January,  1863,  General  Weitzel 
led  an  expedition  from  Brashear  City  into  the  Teche 
country.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  squadron  of  gun- 
boats under  Commodore  Buchanan.  Near  Pattersonville 
the  bayou  was  obstructed  by  torpedoes,  a  sunken  steam- 
boat and  an  earthwork,  Fort  Bisland;  just  above  was  the 

10  (145) 


146  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Confederate  gunboat  J.  A.  Cotton.  A  sharp  fight  ensued, 
in  which  Commodore  Buchanan  lost  his  life,  a  ball  from 
a  Confederate  sharp-shooter  having  passed  through  his 
head.  But  the  infantry  got  in  the  rear  of  the  Confed- 
erate works  and  these  were  soon  abandoned.  The  fol- 
lowing night  the  Confederate  gunboat  Cotton  was  de- 
serted and  set  on  fire.  With  this  success  the  expedition 
of  General  Weitzel  returned  to  Brashear  City. 

About  April  10,  1863,  another  expedition  was  sent  up 
Bayou  Teche.  General  Richard  Taylor,  a  son  of  Presi- 
dent Zachariah  Taylor,  was  in  command  of  the  Confed- 
erate forces.  He  made  a  stand  at  Fort  Bisland,  but  Gen- 
eral Emory  engaged  his  attention  in  front  while  General 
Grover  was  striving  to  get  in  his  rear.  The  Federals 
failed  to  capture  the  Confederates,  but  caused  them  to 
abandon  the  Teche  country  so  hastily  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  set  fire  to  several  transports  laden  with  stores 
at  New  Iberia,  on  Bayou  Teche,  and  also  to  an  unfinished 
gunboat.  April  20,  General  Banks  entered  Opelousas 
and  General  Taylor  retreated  beyond  Vermillion  Bayou, 
Later  General  Banks  occupied  Alexandria,  and  from 
there  advanced  to!  Port  Hudson,  which  place  he  invested 
about  May  24,  1863,  and  six  weeks  afterwards,  captured. 

Our  regiment,  having  reached  Algiers,  opposite  New 
Orleans,  by  steamboat,  debarked  October  4,  1863,  and 
took  the  cars  for  Brashear  City  on  the  New  Orleans, 
Opelousas  &  Western  Railroad.  The  train  was  made  up 
of  open  flat  cars,  and,  when  in  motion  over  a  rough  road- 
way, much  care  had  to  be  exercised  lest  some  of  the  men 
should  fall  overboard.  The  start  was  made  early  in  the 
morning.  The  country  traversed  was  covered  with  inter- 
minable swamps,  bayous,  lagoons  and  sluggish  creeks.  It 
was  heavily  timbered,  and  for  most  of  the  way  seemed 


Fruit,  Fires  and  Fence-rails.  147 

one  vast  wilderness.  Brashear  City  was  reached  at  night 
and  next  day  the  command  started  up  Bayou  Teche. 
The  country  now  seen  was  attractive  and  many  delightful 
homes  were  passed.  The  houses,  half  hidden  in  trees, 
had  wide  porches  and  large  windows  that  reached  to  the 
floor. 

At  this  time  oranges  were  ripening  and  the  many  or- 
chards passed  were  bending  under  the  weight  of  this 
delicious  fruit.  Nearly  all  the  fences  were  made  of 
cypress.  This  wood  was  split  into  thin  board-like  pieces 
and  at  convenient  distances  were  posts  of  the  same 
material  with  mortices  for  the  reception  of  the  horizontal 
pieces.  In  this  way  a  neat  fence  was  made,  but  it  must 
have  taken  a  great  deal  of  time  and  involved  much  labor. 
When  the  division  was  halted  at  night  or  for  dinner, 
every  man  seized  one  or  more  pieces  of  this  fence,  and 
in  a  little  time  it  made  many  fires  that  heated  a  multitude 
of  coffee  pots  and  toasted  innumerable  slices  of  salt  pork. 

Nearly  every  man  carried  an  old  tin  can,  one  in  which 
there  had  been  fruit  or  oysters,  and  with  a  piece  of  wire 
he  had  made  for  it  a  bail.  As  soon  as  a  fire  was  made, 
this  can,  filled  with  water,  was  placed  upon  it.  When 
the  water  came  to  a  boil,  ground  coffee,  in  which  form 
this  article  was  always  supplied,  was  added.  Meantime, 
a  thin  slice  of  bacon  or  salt  pork  was  toasted  upon  the 
end  of  a  stick  (see  page  74),  and  the  fat  that  exuded 
while  cooking  was  allowed  to  drip  upon  the  hard  cracker 
— "hard  tack" — and  this  served  in  lieu  of  gravy  or  but- 
ter. While  upon  the  march,  coffee,  made  as  described 
above,  seemed  delicious,  and  the  fat  meat  ("sow-belly") 
and  "hard-tack"  were  eaten  with  a  relish  that  now  seems 
almost  inexplicable.  Good  appetities  and  sweet  sleep, 


148  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

however,  are  two  good  angels  that  never  desert  a  soldier 
on  the  march. 

The  region  was  very  level  and  the  land  wonderfully 
fertile,  the  soil  being  a  deep  rich  black  loam.  The 
cypress  fences  described  above  enclosed  vast  sugar  plan- 
tations. Along  the  bayou,  at  no  great  distance  apart, 
were  great  sugar  mills.  Many  of  these  were  built  of 
brick,  and  with  their  costly  fixtures  and  extensive  ap- 
paratus and  machinery,  must  each  have  involved  an  out- 
lay of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars.  But  being  built 
on  the  banks  of  the  bayou,  the  sugar  made  was  conveyed 
to  market  with  the  least  possible  expense.  The  bayou 
was  narrow  in  many  places,  too  narrow  for  a  boat  to 
turn  around,  and  as  there  were  no  hills  next  to  it  on 
either  side,  it  seemed  much  like  a  great  ditch. 

At  one  time,  on  the  march,  the  road  led  through  a 
light  growth  of  timber  and  receded  quite  a  distance  from 
Bayou  Teche  and  wound  about  and  continued  away  from 
it  for  some  hours,  so  that  the  direction  in  which  this 
water  course  lay  was  forgotten.  All  at  once,  happening 
to  look  towards  the  north  through  some  stunted  trees, 
my  eyes  fell  upon  a  steamboat  moving  slowly  westward. 
It  looked  for  all  the  world  like  it  was  being  propelled  on 
land  through  the  timber.  The  water  in  the  bayou  was 
so  little  below  the  surface  level  of  the  country,  and  the 
stream  being  very  narrow,  all  helped  to  make  the  boat 
seem  to  be  moving  on  dry  land  instead  of  on  the  water. 

Here  was  an  instance  of  a  boat  seeming  so  much  and 
the  water  so  little;  on  the  great  Mississippi,  however, 
with  which  our  regiment  had  already  so  much  to  do, 
the  water  appeared  vast  and  immense  while  the  boat 
dwarfed  into  a  mere  speck  in  comparison. 


"Brother  Arrayed  Against  Brother."    149 

The  scene  of  General  Weitzel's  and  Commodore 
Buchanan's  fight  in  the  January  previous  and  of  Gen- 
eral Emory's  about  the  middle  of  April,  were  passed 
before  reaching  Franklin.  Here  was  seen  the  wreck  of 
the  burned  Confederate  gunboat  Cotton.  By  the  way, 
Commodore  Buchanan,  who  lost  his  life  here  on  board 
the  Calhoun  and  whose  first  name  was  McKean,  was  an 
officer  on  board  the  Congress,  destroyed  in  Hampton 
Roads  in  March,  1862,  by  the  Confederate  Merrimac, 
commanded  by  an  own  brother,  Franklin  Buchanan,  of 
the  Southern  Navy.  Thus,  in  the  great  Civil  War  was 
brother  pitted  against  brother  in  deadly  strife. 

Franklin,  a  considerable  town  on  the  bayou,  was 
reached,  and  here  the  command  stopped  for  a  time,  but, 
after  a  little,  several  regiments,  including  ours,  were 
pushed  on  to  New  Iberia,  another  important  place  on  the 
Teche.  Nearly  all  the  inhabitants  were  French,  and 
many  of  them  could  not  speak  English;  the  latter  fact 
was  true  of  'the  negroes  as  well,  and  it  was  amusing  to 
hear  them  talking  in  a  foreign  tongue.  A  black  face  had 
so  long  been  associated  with  "negro  talk"  that  this  de- 
parture was  curious  and  interesting. 

The  well-to-do  people  lived  in  quaint  many-gabled,  old 
houses.  Some  of  them,  before  the  war,  were  very 
wealthy.  These  French  were  genuine  Creoles. 

The  October  days  spent  at  New  Iberia  were  delightful 
in  the  extreme — soft  hazy  weather.  The  foraging  par- 
ties brought  in  plenty  of  honey,  sweet  potatoes,  chickens 
and  turkeys,  while  milk  in  abundance  was  procured  of 
the  inhabitants.  Pecans  were  found  in  plenty  and 
oranges  were  ripening  in  the  orchards.  It  was  certainly  a 
delightful  region.  Indeed,  it  was  Evangeline's  country, 
of  which  it  could  truly  be  said : 


150  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

"Here  no  winter  congeals  our  blood  like  the  rivers; 
Here  no  stony  ground  provokes  the  wrath  of  the  farmer, 
Smoothly  the  plowshare  runs  through  the  soil,  as  a  keel 

through  the  water. 
All  the  year  round  the  orange-groves  are  in  blossom,  and 

grass  grows 
More  in  a  single  night  than  in  a  whole  Canadian  summer."1 

A  printing  press  was  found  complete;  this  was  taken 
possession  of  by  some  of  the  newspaper  men  in  our  regi- 
ment, and,  upon  the  plain  sides  of  some  old  pieces  of 
wall-paper  found  in  an  abandoned  store,  a  new  period- 
ical was  started,  called  the  "Unconditional  Surrender — 
Grant."  Of  course,  but  few  numbers  were  issued,  but 
those  proved  to  be  of  great  interest  to  the  soldiers. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  we  had  printers 
in  our  regiment.  Indeed,  in  the  Union  Army  every  tradei 
and  calling  was  represented,  and  if  the  need  arose  men 
could  be  found  to  repair  anything,  from  a  watch  up  to  a 
locomotive,  and  to  make  anything  from  a  hoe  handle  to 
a  turning-lathe. 

Here  the  medical  department  fitted  up  a  church  for  a 
hospital ;  and  in  doing  this  the  pews  were  taken  out  and 
cots  put  in  where  they  had  been. 

A  cavalry  brigade  had  advanced  to  Vermillion  Bayou 
and  had  an  engagement  with  the  enemy,  in  which  quite 
a  number  were  wounded,  and  it  was  for  the  reception  of 
these  that  we  were  making  preparations.  Among  the 
things  prepared  were  coffee  and  tea,  soup,  milk-punch, 
toddies,  etc.  These  preparations  were  made  in  the  after- 
noon, but  the  ambulance  train  did  not  get  in  till  after 
night.  Upon  its  arrival  the  wounded  were  all  transferred 
to  the  cots  in  the  church,  nearly  all  of  which  were  filled, 

1  From  Longfellow's  Evangeline. 


"Unconditional  Surrender" — Grant.      151 

and  where  they  were  made  as  comfortable  as  possible 
with  the  means  at  our  command. 

Substantially  all  the  wounds  were  from  musket  balls 
and  had  been  well  dressed  before  starting  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  battlefield.  In  a  day  or  two  a  boat  came 
up  Bayou  Teche  and  the  wounded  were  transferred  to 
this  and  started  for  the  general  hospitals  at  New  Orleans, 
where  more  comforts  than  we  were  able  to  give  awaited 
them. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

FROM  THE  TECHE  TO  TEXAS. 

"We  made  an  expedition, 
We  met  a  host  and  quelled  it; — " 

— PEACOCK. 

DURING  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1863  a  great  many 
colored  troops  were  enlisted  (see  page  141).  At  this 
period  the  enrollment  and  organization  of  these  were 
especially  active  in  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  The  col- 
ored soldiers  were  invariably  put  under  white  officers. 
The  latter  came  mostly  from  the  ranks  of  regiments  that 
had  seen  active  service.  But  to  secure  a  commission  in 
this  service  some  considerable  knowledge  of  military 
tactics  was  required,  and  the  aspirant  had  to  pass  a  pretty 
rigid  examination  before  a  board  of  experts.  The  fever 
for  shoulder  straps  became  quite  prevalent,  and  many  an 
ambitious  young  man  who  saw  no  opening  for  promotion 
in  his  own  regiment,  began  to  brush  up  his  tactics  and 
then  went  before  the  examiners  and  later  secured  a  com- 
mission in  the  "Corps  d'Afrique."  While  at  New  Or- 
leans quite  a  number  left  our  regiment  in  this  way,  and 
later  at  New  Iberia,  in  October  and  November,  others 
went  in  the  same  manner.  Thus  a  number  of  the  best 
men  were  lost  to  the  regiment. 

Towards  the  end  of  October  quite  an  excitement  was 
created  by  a  rumor  that  the  post  of  New  Iberia  would  be 
attacked,  The  Confederates  were  known  to  be  in  force 
at  Vermillion  Bayou,  some  eighteen  or  twenty  miles  west, 
and  detachments  of  cavalry  were  constantly  watching 
their  movements.  New  Iberia,  being  so  near  the  enemy, 
(152) 


"Here's  Your  D—d  Rebels!"        153 

was  in  danger,  and  to  strengthen  it  as  much  as  possible 
an  extended  line  of  rifle  pits  was  made,  and  the  citizens 
of  New  Iberia  were  made  to  work  on  them. 

Our  cavalry  surrounded  and  captured  a  small  body  of 
the  enemy's  cavalry.  The  Confederates  were  brought  in 
one  morning,  and  many  of  those  composing  the  force  at 
New  Iberia  went  out  to  the  road  as  they  passed.  The 
prisoners  were  disarmed  and  put  upon  their  horses,  but 
the  reins  of  each  one  of  the  latter  were  held  by  a  Union 
cavalryman,  well  armed  and  mounted,  who  rode  at  the 
side  of  the  prisoner.  One  of  the  captured  cavalrymen, 
as  soon  as  he  came  in  sight,  noticing  the  throng  of  blue- 
coats  that  had  come  out  to  the  road,  began  yelling  at  the 
top  of  his  voice : 

"Here's  your  d — d  rebels!    Here's  your  d — d  rebels!" 

Never  was  there  a  squad  of  men  gotten  together, 
Union  or  Confederates,  but  had  its  loud-mouthed  mem- 
ber, some  "smart  alick"  whose  tongue  at  all  times  seemed 
loose  and  who  never  lacked  for  word  nor  occasion  to 
speak. 

There  were  but  few  sick  in  the  hospital,  but  "sick  call" 
was,  of  course,  held  daily.  About  9  each  morning  two 
musicians  with  drum  and  fife  came  to  the  surgeon's  tent 
and  played  a  peculiar  strain  that  all  soon  came  to  recog- 
nize as  "sick  call."  Immediately  upon  hearing  this  the 
indisposed  from  each  company,  came  to  the  surgeon's 
tent,  where  they  were  examined,  prescribed  for  and  ex- 
cused from  duty,  if,  in  the  judgment  of  the  surgeon,  their 
ailments  merited  it.  In  the  army  men  varied  greatly 
regarding  their  infirmities.  Some  were  always  complain- 
ing, always  on  the  sick  list,  and  yet  upon  examination 
but  little  in  the  way  of  ailment  could  be  found.  Others 
were  non-committal  and  went  on  duty  as  long  as  they 


154  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

were  able  to  stand  on  their  feet,  and  stayed  away  from 
the  hospital  and  care  of  the  surgeon  as  long  as  possible. 

A  few  were  malingerers,  and  sought  to  "play-off  sick," 
as  it  was  phrased  in  the  army.  But  this  class  were  nearly 
always  detected  by  the  surgeons,  and  very  often  by  their 
officers.  They  were  held  in  contempt  by  all,  as  a  class. 
Sometimes  'the  surgeons  erred  on  the  other  side,  how- 
ever, and  put  men  on  duty  who  were  really  ailing;  this 
mistake  was  unfortunate,  but  is  not  always  avoidable 
when  some  are  constantly  trying  to  shirk  duty  by  assum- 
ing indisposition. 

The  great  amount  of  sickness  from  which  the  regiment 
suffered  during  the  winter  of  1862-3,  while  on  duty  at 
Memphis,  Tenn.,  has  before  been  spoken  of.  (See  page 
59.  But,  as  soon  as  the  field  was  taken  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Vicksburg  campaign  in  April,  1863,  the 
health  of  the  organization  became  excellent  and  sub- 
stantially remained  so  till  the  war  closed.  Soldiers  in 
active  campaign  duty  are  healthier  and  happier  than 
when  comparatively  idle.  It  was  strange  some  one  in 
high  authority  did  not  issue  some  such  order  as  the  fol- 
lowing: "Keep  your  men  busy,  keep  them  busy  fighting 
the  enemy  if  possible,  but,  at  any  rate,  keep  them  busy !" 
Under  Grant,  however,  such  an  order  would  have  been 
useless,  as  he  always  had  his  men  doing  something,  and 
at  the  same  time  gave  his  enemy  matters  enough  to  look 
after.  It  was  said  above  that  a  soldier  on  active  duty  is 
healthier  and  happier.  Activity,  too,  enforces  discipline ; 
it  gives  no  time  for  the  brooding  of  discontent,  home- 
sickness and  a  spirit  of  insubordination. 

For  a  part  of  the  time  the  hospital  department  was 
quartered  in  a  house,  but  in  November  the  regiment 
moved  it$  location,  and  then  all,  including  the  hospital, 


A  Glad  Thanksgiving.  155 

went  into  tents.  This  mode  of  living,  however,  became 
uncomfortably  cool  as  winter  approached. 

For  some  cause,  not  now  remembered,  it  became  neces- 
sary for  me  to  accompany  one  of  the  surgeons  in  a  night 
ride  back  to  Franklin,  about  fifteen  miles  distant  on  the 
bayou,  within  the  Federal  lines.  Two  horses  were  pro- 
cured and  the  trip  started  upon  about  8  o'clock  P.M.  It 
was  a  lonely  ride  and  toward  midnight  every  fence-post 
seemed  a  rebel  soldier  and  every  bush  a  mounted  Con- 
federate cavalryman.  The  way  seemed  long  and  tire- 
some, but  at  last  it  was  known  that  our  lines  at  Franklin 
could  not  be  much  farther  off.  By  and  by  a  voice  called 
out: 

"Halt!   Who  comes  there?" 

"Friend  without  the  countersign,"  was  answered. 

Then  an  officer  came  out,  asked  some  questions  and  the 
two  tired  and  lonely  horsemen  were  passed  within  the 
Federal  lines,  just  as  streaks  of  daylight  began  showing 
in  the  eastern  sky. 

Thanksgiving  Day  of  1863  was  duly  kept  by  many  of 
the  troops  at  New  Iberia.  Perhaps  the  dinner  eaten  that 
day  was  but  little  better  than  ordinary,  but  public  serv- 
ices were  held  in  which  most  of  the  troops  of  the  Fourth 
Division  of  the  Thirteenth  Corps  participated.  A  plat- 
form had  been  erected  in  an  open  field  for  the  speakers 
and  about  this  all  gathered.  Excellent  instrumental  music 
for  the  occasion  was  furnished  by  one  of  the  brass  bands 
of  the  division.  All  who  spoke  expressed  full  confidence 
in  the  triumph  of  the  Union  cause.  At  the  close  all 
joined  in  singing  the  Doxology,  and  the  air  rang  with  a 
full  chorus  made  up  of  thousands  of  male  voices. 

About  the  first  of  December  orders  came  for  the  com- 
mand to  report  at  New  Orleans,  and  carrying  these  out 


156  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

we  marched  back  along  the  Teche  to  Brashear  City  and; 
went  from  there  by  rail  to  Algiers,  opposite  New  Or- 
leans, when  a  Gulf  steamer  was  taken  for  Texas. 

Here  before  us  was  a  new  experience,  salt  water.  The 
steamer  left  for  Algiers  Landing  one  forenoon  and  at 
night  salt  water  was  reached.  Very  few  of  the  men  had 
ever  been  on  this  before,  and  the  experience  was,  to  most 
of  them,  anything  but  agreeable,  For  the  greater  part  of 
the  time  I  was  on  the  upper  deck,  and  hence  had  plenty 
of  fresh  air,  at  least.  But  down  in  the  hold  where  the 
men  were,  the  second  day  out  was  the  most  repulsive  spot 
I  ever  cast  eyes  upon. 

The  sailors,  in  passing  about  and  seeing  the  men  so 
sick,  vomiting  in  every  direction,  just  grinned,  as  it  was 
all  to  them  a  great  joke.  De  Crow's  Point,  Tex.,  it 
turned  out,  was  the  destination  of  the  regiment.  Arrived 
in  sight  of  this  place  the  steamer  anchored,  as  there  was 
no  wharf,  and  the  vessels  called  lighters — of  very  light 
draft — could  not  come  alongside  to  receive  the  contents 
of  the  steamer,  the  .sea  was  so  rough. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  vessel  lay  there  and  rolled 
and  pitched,  teetered,  as  one  of  the  men  said.  Other 
vessels  loaded  with  troops  were  in  a  corresponding  situa- 
tion, and  to  see  these  pitch  and  roll  in  the  rough  sea  was 
a  sight.  Finally,  after  a  day  or  two,  the  sea  calmed  down 
a  little,  and  a  vessel  with  much  difficulty  came  alongside, 
was  lashed  to  ours,  and,  after  awhile,  all  got  ashore  with- 
out accident. 

On  the  sandy  beach  the  men  soon  set  up  their  tents  and 
got  their  things  in  these;  meantime  the  sun  came  out 
brightly,  the  air  was  bracing,  and  all  passed  from  the 
recent  depression  to  a  state  bordering  on  exhilaration, 
which  last  was  attributed  to  the  great  amount  of  "bile" 
vomited  up  during  the  attacks  of  sea-sickness. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

SOME  OF  THE  MORE  PREVALENT  DISEASES. 

"As  man,  perhaps,  the  moment  of  his  breath, 
Receives  the  lurking  principle  of  death; 
The  young  disease,  that  must  subdue  at  length, 
Grows  with  his  growth,  and  strengthens  with  his  strength." 

— POPE. 

ONE  of  the  most  iserious  diseases  which  the  Civil  War 
soldier  had  to  encounter  was  typhoid  fever,  the  true  nat- 
ure of  which  was  not  understoodj  in  that  period  by  even 
the  most  advanced  in  the  medical  profession.  Bad  water 
and  bad  sanitation  were,  no  doubt,  the  chief  factors  in 
the  spread  of  this  disease.  The  bowel  discharges,  which 
we  now  know  contain  trillions  of  typhoid  germs,  ready 
to  infect  all  with  whom  they  come  in  contact,  were  care- 
lessly handled  and  disposed  of  in  a  haphazard  fashion. 

As  I  look  back  and  realize  how  I  was  exposed  to  the 
typhoid  contagion,  and  how  aiasociates  of  my  own  age 
were  likewise  exposed,  I  can  but  wonder  at  the  good  for- 
tune of  many  of  us  in  escaping  unharmed.  We  really, 
though,  of  course,  unwittingly,  faced  as  much  danger  as 
one  of  the  great  battles  would  have  exposed  us  to.  My 
regiment,  the  130th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers,  saw  a 
good  deal  of  active  service  at  the  front,  and  yet  Com- 
pany F,  in  which  I  enlisted,  lost  as  many  from  typhoid 
as  in  battle.  As  I  recall  it,  seven  of  my  comrades  in  this 
company  were  killed  in  battle,  or  died  from  wounds ;  and, 
on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  I  can  count  as  many  who,  in 
this  organization,  succumbed  to  "dusky  typhoid."  And, 

(157) 


158  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

sad  to  say,  some  of  these  typhoid  victims  were  among 
the  very  best  young  men  we  had, 

Harlow  M.  Street,  as  noted  in  another  place  (see  page 
58),  was  my  best  friend,  and  when  he  was  stricken  I 
nursed  him,  cared  for  him  in  every  way,  and  I  now 
know  that  in  so  doing,  I  recklessly  exposed  myself  to 
the  danger  of  infection.  In  the  end  my  friend  died  and 
all  regretted  his  loss,  for  he  was  especially  promising,  but 
strange  to  say  the  obligation  I  was  under  of  going  to  our 
regimental  hospital  and  caring  for  him,  changed  the 
whole  trend  of  my  subsequent  life.  So  big  with  future 
events  are  sometimes  the  most  trivial  circumstances. 

Another  serious  loss  in  our  company  was  that  of  a 
young  man  by  the  name  of  Wood,  who  was  stricken  at 
Memphis.  He  was  the  son  of  a  Presbyterian  minister, 
was  well  educated,  refined,  handsome  and  had  before 
him  an  exceptionally  bright  future.  His  father  came 
down  the  river  on  a  boat  and  arrived  just  a  short  time 
after  his  son  had  passed  to  the  "Great  Beyond,"  and 
never  shall  I  forget  the  expression  on  the  parent's  face 
when  he  learned  of  his  bereavement. 

Another  serious  loss  Company  F  sustained  was  when 
Second  Lieutenant  Charles  Ives  died  from  typhoid.  He 
was  attacked  about  the  time  we  started  on  the  Vicksburg 
campaign,  and  for  a  time  tried  to  accompany  us  on  the 
march.  The  last  time  I  saw  him  he  was  in  full  military 
dress,  had  on  all  his  accoutrements,  including  sword  and 
gauntlets,  but  it  was  plainly  apparent  that  he  was  a  very 
seriously  sick  man.  Later  he  died  while  we  were  in  the 
thick  of  the  Vicksburg  Siege,  and  in  which  he,  a  good 
soldier,  had  been  ambitious  to  bear  a  good  soldier's  part. 
But  fate  had  decreed  otherwise,  and  one  more  well  edu- 
cated, capable  young  man  was  not  permitted  to  brave  the 


"Dusky"  Typhoid.  159 

battle,  but  was  doomed  to  succumb  to  one  of  our  filth 
diseases  instead. 

During  the  Siege  of  Vicksburg,  and  while  we  had 
many  wounded,  a  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever  oc- 
curred in  my  regiment,  and  one  more  man  died  from  my 
company.  As  elsewhere  noted,  we  had  our  patients  in 
the  open  under  the  shade  of  the  trees,  and  I  recall  that 
the  man  from  my  company  had  a  very  profuse  and  invol- 
untary stool  that  was  projected  from  the  bowels  with 
astonishing  force,  and  which  ran  all  over  the  ground ;  and 
not  appreciating  the  hazard,  the  dangerous  ejection  was 
cared  for  in  the  most  perfunctory  and  careless  way. 

In  that  era  most  medical  men  regarded  turpentine  as 
little  short  of  a  sheet-anchor  in  the  treatment  of  typhoid, 
and  needless  to  say,  it  was  a  standard  remedy  in  our 
regimental  hospital.  Following  was  the  prescription 
used: 

B.  Olei  terebinthinae  Siij. 

Olei  gaultheriae  5ss. 

Tinct.  opii  3iv. 

Pulveris  acacia  3iv. 

Sachari  alba 3iv. 

Aqua  to  Siv. 

M.  Teaspoonful  every  hour  or  two. 

The  use  of  turpentine  was  originated  nearly  a  hundred 
years  ago  by  Dr.  George  B.  Wood,  an  eminent  author 
and  practitioner  of  Philadelphia  in  the  last  century,  and 
was  thought  to  act  as  a  specific  in  healing  the  intestinal 
ulcers,  always  found  in  typhoid.  This  treatment  obtained 
great  popularity  throughout  the  land,  and  so  continued 
till  long  after  the  Civil  War. 

No  care  whatever  was  used  in  disposing  of  the  bowel 
discharges  from  typhoid  patients,  and  as  flies  were  every- 


160  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

where  in  great  numbers,  in  warm  weather,  the  wonder 
is  we  were  not  all  infected ;  for  there  was  nothing  to  pre- 
vent them  from  coming  direct  from  the  bowel  discharges 
to  our  food. 

Another  serious  disease  in  war-times  was  measles  (see 
page  59),  and  with  us!  substantially  every  soldier  that 
•escaped  this  ailment  in  childhood  was  stricken  with  it 
during  that  trying  winter  (1862-3),  that  we  spent  in 
Memphis.  A  number  from  my  company  were  attacked 
with  this  disease  and  several  died.  Among  these  were 
two  great  strapping  fellows,  who,  from  their  height,  al- 
ways stood  at  the  head  of  the  company.  They  were  more 
than  six  feet  tall,  well  proportioned  and  soldierly  in  their 
appearance  and  bearing.  Another  young  man  near  my 
age,  and  of  whom  I  was  fond,  died  of  this  disease, 

Recently  it  was!  my  privilege  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  Na- 
tional Cemetery  at  Memphis,  and  upon  the  head  stones 
of  a  number  of  my  comrades,  beside  whose  graves  I 
stood,  I  could,  with  too  much  truth  have  added,  "Died 
of  measles." 

Of  those  who  did  not  die,  some  were  left  partially 
deaf,  some  could  not  speak  above  a  whisper,  and  the 
sight  of  others  was  seriously  compromised. 

So  many  died  of  measles,  so  many  were  maimed  by 
that  disease  that  I  used  to  say  that  if  I  were  enlisting 
Civil  War  soldiers  I  would  reject  all  that  had  not  had 
this  affection  in  childhood. 

But,  by  all  odds  the  most  prevalent  army  diseases  were 
those  in  which  bowel-movements  were  unduly  frequent 
and  which  occurred  in  four  forms,  namely:  Acute  diar- 
rhea, chronic  diarrhea,  acute  dysentery  and  chronic  dys- 
entery. Said  Dr.  Joseph  Janiver  Woodward,  Surgeon 
United  States  Army,  and  one  of  the  highest  authorities 


Diarrhea  and  Dysentery.  161 

on  Civil  War  medicine :  "These  disorders  occurred  more 
frequently  and  produced  more  sickness  and  mortality 
than  any  other  form  of  disease.  They  made  their 
appearance  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  not  in- 
frequently prevailing  in  new  regiments  before  their  or- 
ganization was  complete,  and,  although  as  a  rule  com- 
paratively mild  at  first,  were  not  long  in  acquiring  a 
formidable  character.  Soon  no  army  could  move  with- 
out leaving  behind  it  a  host  of  victims.  They  crowded 
the  ambulance  trains,  the  railroad  cars,  the  steamboats. 
In  the  general  hospitals  they  were  more  numerous  than 
the  sick  from  all  other  diseases,  and  rivaled  the  wounded 
in  multitude.  They  abounded  in  convalescent  camps, 
and  formed  a  large  proportion  of  those  discharged  from 
the  service  for  disability.  The  majority  of  our  men  who 
were  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy 
suffered  from  these  affections.  Finally,  for  many  months 
after  the  war  ended,  and  after  the  greater  portion  of  our 
troops  had  returned  to  their  homes,  deaths  from  chronic 
diarrhea  and  chronic  dysentery  contracted  in  the  service, 
continued  to  be  of  frequent  occurrence  among  them." 

Almost  no  soldier  escaped  an  attack  of  diarrhea  or 
dysentery  in  some  form  and  at  some  time  during  his 
term  of  service;  and  some  had  a  number  of  separate 
attacks.  In  all,  the  Civil  War  surgeons  reported  more 
than  1,700,000  cases;  and  of  these  more  than  57,000  died 
of  the  disease.  As  Dr.  Woodward  says,  the  victims  of 
these  bowel  troubles  were  in  evidence  almost  everywhere 
in  war-time.  As  they  did  not  take  to  their  beds  till  the 
very  last,  they  could  be  seen  as  walking-shadows  about 
camp,  among  the  tents,  or  in  the  corridors  of  the  great 
hospitals.  Cases  of  acute  dysentery  were  very  much 
fewer  than  cases  of  acute  diarrhea,  and,  of  course,  vastly 

11 


162  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

more  fatal.  Likewise  cases  of  well-marked  chronic  dys- 
entery were  correspondingly  fewer  than  those  of  chronic 
diarrhea  and  relatively  very  much  more  likely  to  end  in 
death. 

Not  a  few  of  the  cases  were  so  near  the  border-line 
that  separates  diarrhea  from  dysentery  that  the  diagnos- 
tician was  puzzled  upon  which  side  to  place  them;  con- 
sequently dysenteric-diarrhea  came  to  be  the  term  applied 
to  these  hard-to-define  cases. 

Some  of  the  Civil  War  pathologists,  after  examining 
not  a  few  intestines  from  patients  dead  from  chronic 
diarrhea  and  chronic  dysentery,  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  all  the  more  serious  cases  of  chronic  diarrhea  were 
really  dysenteric  in  character.  But  the  army  surgeon  in 
the  field  evidently  thought  differently,  for,  in  round  num- 
bers, they  reported  170,000  cases  of  chronic  diarrhea  with 
30,000  deaths,  and  25,000  patients  with  chronic  dysen- 
tery, 4000  of  whom  died. 

While  individual  cases  of  the  chronic  malady  differed 
in  certain  particulars,  they  were  all  alike  in  two,  namely, 
looseness  of  the  bowels  and  emaciation.  Emaciation  was 
a  constant  symptom  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
patients  had  good  appetites  and  ate  heartily  when  they 
were  permitted  to  do  so;  for  careful  dieting  was  one  of 
the  things  that  the  doctor  always  insisted  on.  However, 
these  diseases  were  notoriously  little  amenable  to  treat- 
ment ;  especially  in  the  way  of  medication.  Nevertheless, 
a  host  of  remedies  were  tried,  such  as  opium,  Dover's 
powder,  ipecac,  rhubarb,  nitrate  of  silver,  sulphate  of 
copper,  calomel  and  astringents  of  various  kinds. 

In  my  regiment  I  can  recall  but  one  man  who  died 
with  acute  dysentery.  He  belonged  to  my  company  and 
was  our  patient  at  the  hospital.  We  were  in  the  Teche 


A  Soldier's  Burial.  163 

country,  about  two  hundred  miles  west  of  New  Orleans, 
a  most  delightful  region,  and  the  time  was  autumn,  an 
especially  enjoyable  season  in  that  locality.  A  few  hours 
before  death  came  to  the  patient,  he  so  little  realized  his 
condition,  that  he  asked  me  to  loan  him  the  money  to 
take  him  to  his  home  in  Illinois;  a  trip  that  involved  a 
long  river  journey.  But  in  a  few  short  hours  he  had 
made  that  other  journey,  the  one  we  must  all  make 
sooner  or  later.  We  wrapped  him  in  an  army  blanket 
and  put  him  in  a  rude  pine  coffin,  the  kind  the  Govern- 
ment furnished,  and  buried  him  not  far  from  our  hos- 
pital. Meanwhile  "Not  a  drum  was  heard  or  a  funeral 
note."  But  in  the  West  the  sun,  a  great  ball  of  fire,  was 
sinking  to  the  horizon  and  nearby  was  a  great  pile  of 
gold-tinted  clouds.  So  died  and  so  was  buried  a  Union 
soldier — a  soldier  who  had  passed  unharmed  through  the 
rain  of  shot  and  shell  in  many  battles — but  who  was 
destined  a  few  weeks  later  to  be  felled  by  disease  in  the 
prime  of  manhood.  Later,  it  was  my  fortune  to  meet 
his  wife,  and  as  I  recited  some  of  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  her  husband's  last  hours,  I  shall  never  forget 
the  shade  of  sadness  that  came  over  her  countenance  and 
the  tears  that  flowed  freely  from  her  sorrow-marked 
eyes.  It  caused  me  to  think  of  what  the  women  had  to 
bear  while,  we  their  sons,  their  brothers,  their  husbands 
and  their  sweethearts  were  in  front  of  the  enemy. 

While  I  can  only  recall  this  one  death  from  well- 
marked  dysentery,  scores  and  scores  in  our  regiment 
died  from  chronic  diarrhea.  One  man  in  my  company 
was  reduced  to  a  shadow  by  this  disease  till  about  all  he 
had  left  was  a  ravenous  appetite,  and  yielding  to  this  he 
went  to  the  Sutler's  and  ate  heartily  of  cheese,  herring 
and  crackers,  An  hour  later  he  was  a  cold,  senseless 


164  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

corpse.  Every  one  said  it  was  a  case  of  self-murder. 
But  anyone  who  had  been  afflicted  as  was  this  man,  and] 
knew  the  terrible  cravings  attending  it,  would  be  slow  to 
pronounce  such  a  verdict.  True,  substantially  all  the 
food  swallowed  passed  off  through  the  bowels  undi- 
gested, but  this  fact  was  the  very  reason  the  pitiful 
patient  was  the  victim  of  an  ungovernable  appetite,  which 
last  was  really  the  voice  of  nature  striving  to  satisfy  its 
needs. 

Chronic  diarrhea  was  one  of  the  inheritances  from 
army  life  that  a  great  many  Civil  War  soldiers  carried 
home  with  them  at  the  end  of  the  great  four-years  strug- 
gle, and  from  this  trouble  thousands  died  many  months 
after  the  last  shot  was  fired.  Further  than  this,  many 
thousands  were  sorely  inconvenienced,  and  at  times  had 
their  lives  made  miserable  from  the  same  cause.  The 
great  majority  of  these  tried  to  go  about  their  daily 
affairs.  On  the  farm  some  of  them,  in  the  shop  others, 
at  the  counter  or  desk  yet  others.  This  one  may  be  a 
young  lawyer,  that  one  a  physician,  and  the  other  pos- 
sibly preached  the  gospel  of  the  lowly  Nazarene.  But, 
whatsoever  the  calling,  and  wheresoever  the  locality,  each 
and  all  were  working  under  a  handicap;  for  not  one  of 
them  could  tell  what  moment  nature  would  sound  an 
urgent  call  to  evacuate  the  bowels.  One  might  be  plead- 
ing at  the  bar,  another  might  be  ministering  to  the  wants 
of  a  suffering  patient,  and  yet  another  might  be  in  the 
pulpit  invoking  the  blessing  of  the  Father  of  us  all,  when 
nature,  insistent  nature,  gave  a  call  that  had  to  be  heeded. 
Many,  many  times  this  call  came  with  such  suddenness 
and  such  insistence  that  nature's  checks  were  over- 
whelmed, the  sphincter  ani  for  the  moment  refused  to 


"Graybacks." 165 

perform  its  function,  and  the  victim's  linen  would  be 
soiled. 

No  one  who  suffered  from  "army"  diarrhea  but  had 
this  last  experience  many,  many  times.  Indeed,  some 
soldiers  were  so  troubled  in  this  way  that,  like  babes,  they 
were  compelled  to  wear  diapers.  After  suffering  for 
years  from  this  affection  many  seemingly  recovered,  buit 
at  best  this  was  at  the  expense  of  scar-tissue,  greater  or 
less  in  amount,  in  both  the  colon  and  lower  intestine — 
and  this  scarred  surface  was  a  most  important  contribut- 
ing cause  to  the  atonic  constipation  that  always  attended 
the  so-called  recoveries  from  chronic  diarrhea.  Hemor- 
rhoids, more  or  less  aggravated  in  character,  was  another 
after-effect  that  invariably  followed  this  disease. 

Perhaps  this  is  as  good  a  place  as  any  to  refer  to  that 
soldier  pest,  the  body  louse,  or,  as  it  was  familiarly 
called,  the  "gray-back."  Thisi  insect  is  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  in  length  and  is  of  a  dirty  grayish  color,  hence 
its  name.  It  has  three  legs  extending  from  either  side 
of  the  body  with  hairy  claw-like  extremities.  This  re- 
pulsive pest  is  liable  to  infest  the  human  body  under  con- 
ditions which  render  bathing  and  a  change  of  under- 
clothing hard  to  attain.  Such  conditions  obtain  when 
soldiers  are  on  long,  hard  campaigns,  or  in  prison  life, 
when  or  where,  from  necessity,  the  needs  of  the  body 
too  often  receive  only  the  barest  attention. 

Body  lice  were  not  infrequently  discussed  in  the  early 
period  of  my  enlistment  before  conditions  were  encount- 
ered which  made  their  immediate  presence  an  unpleasant 
reality.  One  day  when  this  pestiferous  insect  was  under 
consideration  one  volunteer,  a  number  of  years  older 
than  most  of  us,  after  listening  for  a  time,  spoke  up  with 
no  little  show  of  authority,  and  said :  "I  haint  afeard  o' 


166  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

no  'gray-backs,'  kaze  I  know  how  to  git  shet  of  um.  I'll 
jist  go  to  the  drug  store  an'  get  a  bit  of  angwintum  about 
the  size  of  the  end  of  my  little  finger  an'  then  I'll  jist 
rub  a  little  o'  this  along  the  inside  of  the  seams  of  my 
shirt  an'  drawers,  an'  that'l  kill  off  the  hull  bilin  of  um, 
nits  an'  all." 

Later,  after  I  came  to  make  a  study  of  medicine,  I 
discovered  that  this  man's  angwintum  was  our  well- 
known  unguentum  hydrargyri,  or  mercurial  ointment,  a 
capital  germicide  and  insect  exterminator,  as  every  phy- 
sician knows. 

In  active  campaigning  everyone  was  liable  to  be  in- 
fested with  these  repulsive  pests,  but  nearly  all  would 
embrace  the  first  opportunity  to  get  rid  of  them  by  one 
means  or  another,  hence  came  the  saying:  "It  is  no  dis- 
grace to  get  'gray-backs,'  but  it  is  a  disgrace  to  keep 
them." 

The  th  Wisconsin,  after  a  period  of  strenuous 

service  in  the  field,  went  in  camp  near  Memphis,  Tenn., 
and  its  Commandant,  Colonel  B.,  finding  his  clothes  old 
and  much  the  worse  for  wear  promptly  purchased  a 
spick,  span  new  uniform,  and  arrayed  in  this  he,  a  little 
later,  joined  some  convivial  army  friends  in  a  dinner  at 
the  Gayosa  Hotel.  During  the  meal  a  brother  officer's 
attention  was  arrested  in  a  way  that  caused  him  to  ask 
of  his  newly  uniformed  friend  the  following: 

"Colonel,  what's  that  crawling  on  the  lapel  of  your 
coat?" 

Colonel  B.  cast  his  eyes  down,  and  recognizing  the  cul- 
prit, deliberately  picked  it  up  in  his  fingers,  put  it  through 
and  under  his  shirt  front,  and  addressing  it,  said : 

"Go  back  there,  d — n  you,  where  you  belong." 


— 


Civil  War  body  louse,  or  "grayback"  (Pcdiculus  Vesti- 
menti).    From  picture  taken  in  war  time. 

(See  page  165) 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  AUTHOR  BECOMES  AN  INVALID. 

"It  is  not  the  same  affair  to  feel  diseases  and  to  remove  them." 

— OVID. 

"Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?    Is  there  no  physician  there?" 

— JEREMIAH. 

FOR  nearly  a  year  after  my  enlistment  I  enjoyed  ex- 
cellent health  in  the  main,  but  towards  the  end  of  the 
Vicksburg  campaign  I  was  attacked  with  an  acute  bowel 
trouble. 

At  first  I  thought  little  of  this  and  trusted  to  my  vigor- 
ous constitution  and  usual  fine  health  to  bring  me  out  all 
right.  But  the  trouble  persisted  and  resisted  the  usual 
remedies.  Finally,  I  resorted  to  heroic  measures  when 
I  followed  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  surgeons  who 
said  he  had  known  such  cases  to  be  aborted  by  the  use 
'of  large  doses  of  ipecac.  Accordingly,  I  went  to  the 
cook,  got  a  pint  of  warm  water,  put  a  half  teaspoonful 
of  powdered  ipecac  in  this  and  awaited  results.  In  due 
time  I  became  very  sick  at  the  stomach  and  vomited  vio- 
lently. Meantime,  I  drank  freely  of  warm  water,  but 
this  and  all  the  other  stomach  contents  came  up  and  much 
straining  followed. 

Finally,  my  upheavings  came  to  an  end,  but  for  a  time 
I  was  weak  and  limp  as  the  classical  dishrag.  For  two 
or  three  days  following  this  experience  I  thought  myself 
better,  but,  in  the  end,  there  was  no  improvement. 

In  bowel  troubles,  accompanied  with  frequent  evacua- 
tions, our  surgeons  were  in  the  habit  of  prescribing  one 
of  the  very  few  pills  we  carried  in  stock  and  which  was 

(167) 


168  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

composed  of  two  grains  of  camphor  and  one  of  opium. 
They  also  prescribed  such  astringents  as  acetate  of  lead, 
tannin,  kino,  etc.  All  of  these  things  I  had  used  without 
any  permanent  benefit.  Doubtless,  the  Mississippi  River 
water,  which  we  used  for  drinking  and  cooking,  was  not 
good  for1  me,  but  I  did  not  learn  this  till  later. 

From  Vicksburg,  as  elsewhere  related — for  to  make 
my  invalid  experience  clear  some  repetition  will  be  neces- 
sary— we  went  to  New  Orleans  by  boat,  and  after  re- 
maining in  that  vicinity  for  a  time,  crossed  the  river  to 
Algiers,  where  we  took  a  train  for  Brashear  City,  on 
Berwick  Bay.  Arrived  at  our  first  destination,  we 
marched  up  Bayou  Teche  and  spent  the  remainder  of  the 
fall  months  in  the  beautiful  Teche  country.  Meanwhile, 
my  trouble  was  growing  worse  instead  of  better,  and 
finally  developed  into  a  well-marked  case  of  chronic 
diarrhea. 

Towards  the  last  of  November  orders  came  for  us  to 
return  to  New  Orleans,  where  we- were  to  take  a  vessel 
that  would  convey  us  down  the  river,  out  of  its  mouth, 
and  across  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  De  Crow's  Point,  on 
Matagorda  Bay,  Tex,  To  reach  Brashear  City  we  had 
to  march  overland,  and  I  was  so  weak  that,  for  the  first 
and  only  time  in  my  life,  I  got  in  our  ambulance  and 
rode.  At  Brashear  City  we  took  a  train  and,  in  due  time, 
were  at  Algiers,  opposite  New  Orleans.  It  was  supposed 
we  were  going  to  Texas  to  enter  upon  an  active  cam- 
paign, and  under  these  circumstances  my  medical  adviser 
thought  it  best  that  I  should  remain  behind  and  enter  a 
convalescent  camp.  I  decided  to  take  his  advice,  and 
upon  reaching  Algiers  I  took  such  of  my  effects  as  I 
would  most  need  and  went  to  a  large  nearby  convalescent 
camp.  I  found  hundreds  of  soldiers,  all  in  greater  or 


A  Texas  tc Nor' wester."  169 

less  ill-health,  but  all  able  to  walk  about.  It  was  near 
supper-time,  and  a  plain  meal  of  army  rations  was 
spread  on  a  number  of  tables  made  of  rude  boards. 
Pretty  soon  came  the  signal  for  all  to  go  to  the  tables, 
and  I  went  with  the  rest,  but  in  all  that  gathering  there 
was  not  one  familiar  face;  and  all  the  faces  that  I  saw 
were,  like!  my  own,  thin  and  drawn,  most  of  them  from 
the  effects  of  disease. 

It  was  more  than  I  could  stand,  so  I  gathered  up  my 
things  and  hurried  to  the  boat  where  my  regiment  had 
gone  aboard,  hoping,  and  almost  praying,  that  it  had  not 
yet  left  the  wharf. 

Fortunately  for. my  desires  the  boat  had  not  gone,  and 
after  I  had  crossed  the  gang-plank  and  found,  myself 
again  with  my  associates  and  comrades,  I  experienced  a 
degree  of  satisfaction  possibly  not  altogether  warranted 
by  the  circumstances. 

In  due  time  we  reached  De  Crow's  Point  and  put  up 
our  tents  on  its  sandy  surface.  As  elsewhere  noted,  our 
only  water  for  drinking  and  cooking  was  brackish;  and 
our  only  available  firewood  was  water-soaked  sticks  and 
chunks  that  had  been  washed  ashore.  To  make  matters 
worse  the  supply  of  both  ithe  water  and  firewood  was 
limited.  It  was  now  December,  the  weather  was  chilly, 
and  life  in  our  tents  on  the  sand  and  near  the  waters  of 
the  bay  was  not  altogether  inviting — especially  to  an 
invalid  like  myself.  But  I  had  chosen  it  in  preference 
to  warmth,  good  water  and  well-cooked  food  among 
strangers.  One  night  there  came  up  a  Texas  "Nor'- 
wester"  that  blew  down  our  tent  and  scattered  my  things 
in  every  direction;  after  these,  weak  as  I  was  and  only 
half  dressed,  I  went  chasing  over  the  sand  dunes.  After 


170  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

recovering  my  things  I  rolled  myself  in  blankets  and) 
slept  till  morning. 

As  time  passed  I  grew  thinner  and  thinner,  and,  mean- 
while, my  appetite  reached  out  and  widened  in  its  crav- 
ings for  numerous  articles  of  food ;  for  chronic  diarrhea 
presents  the  strange  anomaly  of  a  patient  becoming 
weaker  and  weaker  while  his  appetite  becomes  stronger 
and  stronger.  But,  notwithstanding  my  food  cravings,  I 
tried,  in  a  way,  to  be  careful  in  my  'diet.  In  our  front 
were  the  salt  waters  of  Matagorda  Bay ;  in  our  rear,  for 
miles  and  miles,  was  a  sandy  desert;  consequently  there 
were  no  inhabitants  from  whom  could  be  procured  such 
articles  as  milk,  eggs,  butter  and  other  articles  of  home 
diet.  As  it  was,  I  used  a  great  deal  of  beef  soup,  though 
at  times  this  seemed  to  aggravate  my  trouble.  I  made 
free  use  of  toast,  but,  as  may  be  inferred,  we  had  no 
butter  for  this.  Speaking  of  butter,  the  Sutler  some- 
times had  this  on  sale.  But  such  butter  as  it  was !  From 
its  taste  and  smell  one  might  think  it  some  that  was 
brought  over  with  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  I  had  all  the 
tea  and  coffee  I  cared'  for  (made  from  the  brackish 
water),  but,  of  course,  cream  for  these  was  out  of  the 
question,  though  at  the  hospital  we,  sometimes,  had  a 
supply  of  condensed  milk,  which  was  not  a  bad  substitute. 

One  day  one  of  our  surgeons  was  walking  along  the 
water's  edge  when  he  came  across  a  fish  that  was  yet 
bleeding  from  a  wound  inflicted,  in  all  probability,  by 
the  revolving  wheel  of  a  steamer.  As  the  fish  appeared 
eatable  it  was  picked  up  and  brought  to  Tom  Ralph,  our 
always  competent  and  resourceful  cook,  who,  at  once, 
put  it  over  the  fire  and  cooked  it. 

In  due  time  we  had  baked  fish  for  dinner,  and  a  more 
savory  dish  I  never  ate.  As  said  before,  I,  in  a  measure, 


I  Yield  to  Temptation.  171 

kept  my  ravenous  appetite  under  control.  A  most  im- 
portant influence  in  enabling  me  to  do  this  was  the  con- 
stant presence  of  my  associates,  as  a  certain  sense  of 
shame  served  to  hold  me  back  from  overindulgence. 
However,  one  day  my  craving  passed'  all  bounds,  when 
I  found  myself  at  the  Sutler's  tent  where  I  ordered  a 
glass  of  cider  and  other  things  "to  match."  To  para- 
phrase on  Daniel  Webster's  words  it  was  another  case 
of,  "Sink  or  swim !  Live  or  die !  Survive  or  perish !"  I 
was  bent  on  having  one  more  square  meal.  No  one  not 
circumstanced  as  I  was  can  have  the  faintest  conception 
of  the  real  satisfaction  and  enjoyment  that  food  and 
drink  procured  that  day  at  the  Sutler's  tent  afforded  me. 
After  I  had  finished  eating  I  turned  about  and  had  gone 
but  a  few  steps  when  whom  should  I  meet  but  Tom,  our 
faithful  cook.  I  felt  as  mean  and  as  conscience-smitten 
as  if  I  had  stolen  something,  and  was  fearful  Tom  had 
seen  me  partaking  of  the  "forbidden  fruit,"  as  it  were. 
But  I  had  the  wisdom  to  say  nothing,  and  as  Tom  said 
nothing,  I  do  not,  to  this  day,  know  whether  he  knew  of 
my  dietary  transgression.  However,  fortunately,  I  ex- 
perienced no  immediate  ill  results  from  my  ill-advised 
indulgence. 

Not  long  after  we  went  into  camp  on  De  Crow's  Point 
the  holidays  came,  but  we  were  in  no  condition  to  cele- 
brate them.  However,  Tom,  with  his  usual  resourceful- 
ness, skirmished  round,  made  a  pie  with  dried  apples, 
sprinkled  some  sugar  on  toast,  gave  the  beef  an  extra 
turn,  and  wfien  all  things  were  considered,  we  had  a 
respectable  army  Christmas  dinner. 

The  brackish  water  that  we  were  compelled  to  use 
went  well  enough  in  our  soup  and  answered  the  purpose 
in  cooking  meat,  but  it  was  horrible  to  drink  and  worse 


172  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

than  execrable)  for  making  tea  and  coffee.  Tea  and 
coffee,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  two  articles  that  my 
medical  adviser  directed  me  to  use. 

Very  soon  after  the  coming  in  of  the  New  Year,  1864, 
I  and  my  friends  came  to  realize  that  it  was  uphill  work 
trying  to  regain  my  health  on  army  rations  and  amid 
unsanitary  conditions,  and  consequently,  a  furlough  was 
procured  for  me  to  go  to  my  home  in  Illinois  for  a  sea- 
son, and  try  what  my  mother's  cooking  and  tender  care 
would  do  for  me. 

With  my  furlough  and  transportation  in  my  pocket  I 
boarded  a  steamer  at  the  landing  bound  for  New  Or- 
leans. The  sun  was  shining  brightly  when  we  got  under- 
way, and  the  sea  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  and  a  beautiful 
green  in  color.  There  were  other  soldiers  on  board  going 
home  on  furlough,  and  with  one  of  the  most  agreeable 
of  these  I  became  acquainted,  and  when  night  came  we 
spread  our  blankets  down  on  the  deck  and  lay  down  upon 
them  side  by  side.  Our  coats  and  overcoats  we  folded 
up  and  put  under  our  heads  for  pillows.  My  companion 
kept  on  his  shoes,  but,  to  rest  my  feet,  I  took  mine  off 
and  put  them  at  my  head  under  my  folded  coats.  It  was 
a  clear  night,  the  stars  above  us  appeared  like  millions  of 
diamonds,  and  the  sea  air  was  like  ozone  in  its  purity. 
But  we  were  both  fatigued  and  soon  stars,  sea  air  and 
all  other  surroundings  were  forgotten  in  sound  sleep, 
from  which  we  did  not  awaken  till  daylight.  I  felt  much 
refreshed  and,  sitting  up,  I  reached  for  my  shoes  and 
they  were  not  to  be  found  where  I  had  placed  them, 
under  my  "pillow!"  Getting  up,  I  looked  under  the 
blankets  that  had  served  us  for  a  bed,  but  the  shoes  were 
nowhere  to  be  found.  Persuading  my  companion  to  re- 
main "in  bed"  awhile  longer,  I  got  him  to  take  off  his 


An  Original  Dr.  Jekyl  and  Mr.  Hyde.    17 

shoes,  and  putting  these  on  I  went  among  the  crew  of 
the  boat  and  tried  to  get  clues  relative  to  my  missing 
property.  But  when  I  got  through  I  was  none  the  wiser. 
Failing  in  this,  I  next  sought  to  find  someone  who  had 
an  extra  pair  he  would  sell.  Finally  I  found  one  of  the 
crew  who  said  he  had  in  his  quarters  a  pair  that  I  could1 
have  if  they  suited  me.  He  brought  them  out,  and  find- 
ing they  were  "wearable,"  I  gave  him  his  price  (an  ex- 
tortionate one)  and  put  them  on.  For  aught  I  knew,  the 
man  I  had  just  patronized  may  have  been  the  thief  that 
took  my  shoes.  Certainly,  some  one  of  the  crew  was  the 
guilty  one. 

The  trip,  barring  this  unpleasant  experience,  was,  on 
the  whole,  enjoyable.  Doubtless  the  smoothness  of  the 
sea  had  much  to  do  with  this,  as  I  was  not  seasick  for  a 
moment. 

Arrived  at  New  Orleans  I  went  aboard  a  river  boat 
that  was  to  take  me  to  Cairo,  111.,  and  whom  should  I  find 
in  the  cabin  but  my  old  Sunday-school  Superintendent — 
drunk !  Drunk,  yes,  foolishly  drunk.  For  a  number  of 
years  this  man  had  been  a  leading  citizen  in  the  com- 
munity where  I  grew  up;  had  a  model  wife,  a  nice 
family,  an  elegant  home  and  a  flourishing  business.  His 
home  life  was  exemplary,  he  was  a  faithful  church-man, 
never  failed  to  conduct  family  worship,  and  his  every- 
day walk  seemed  worthy  of  emulation  in  every  partic- 
ular. As  said  before,  for  a  number  of  years  he  was  our 
Sunday-school  Superintendent,  and  filled  the  position  in 
an  almost  ideal  manner,  But,  by  and  by,  rumors  began 
to  be  circulated  that  when  away  from  home  he  led  a 
far  different  life.  He  was  a  country  merchant,  and  from 
time  to  time  visited  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  New  Orleans, 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  to  purchase  goods.  People 


174  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

wondered  why  his  little  country  store  required  such  fre- 
quent purchases  from  these  various  cities;  but  at  last 
the  truth  came  out  why  he  visited  these  places.  His 
home  was  some  fifteen  miles  from  the  railway,  and  at 
certain  intervals  he  would  have  his  man  hurriedly  drive 
him  to  the  station  where  he  would  board  a  train  for,  say, 
Cincinnati,  and  upon  reaching  that  place  he  would  at  once 
have  a  "high  old  time"  drinking,  and  all  the  rest  that 
goes  with  it.  His  spree  over,  he  would  shave,  bathe,  put 
on  clean  linen  and  take  a  train  for  home,  where  he  would 
arrive  as  fresh  and  sunny  as  a  spring  morning,  for  he 
was  as  genial  and  pleasant  a  man  as  one  would  meet  in 
a  month's  travel.  In  the  most  literal  sense,  this  man 
lived  two  lives;  he  was  a  veritable  Dr.  Jekyl  and  Mr. 
Hyde  when  Robert  Louis  Stevenson1  was  in  his  swad- 
dling clothes.  Living  off  the  railway,  with  no  telegraph, 
and  remote  from  lines  of  travel  made  this  double  life 
easier  to  carry  on.  But  in  the  end  it  was  known  to  all 
who  cared  to  look  into  the  matter. 

As  one  of  this  man's  Sunday-school  scholars  I  had  all 
along  been  loath  to  believe  the  stories  that  were  in  cir- 
culation relative  to  him,  but  after  meeting  him  on  the 
boat  in  a  drunken  fit,  there  was  no  longer  room  to  ques- 
tion the  matter.  Doubtless  he  was  what  we  today  call  a 
periodic,  and  about  so  often  the  craving  for  liquor  came 
upon  him,  and  there  seemed  nothing  to  do  but  gratify  it. 
He  was,  however,  too  proud  and  had  too  much  respect 
for  his  family  to  indulge  his  appetite  at  home. 

Upon  meeting  him  on  the  boat  he  tried  to  talk  a  little, 
but,  realizing  his  condition,  he  excused  himself  by  saying 
he  had  an  errand  in  the  city  that  he  must  attend  to  at 

1  Author  of  Dr.  Jekyl  and  Mr.  Hyde. 


Home  on  Sick-leave.  175 

once,  and  this  done  he  would  return  and  go  up  the  river 
with  me.  Having  said  this,  he  left  the  boat  and  did  not 
return,  and  I  made  the  trip  North  without  him.  The 
next  time  I  saw  him  I  was  a  guest  at  his  home,  and  when 
bedtime  came  no  minister  of  the  gospel  could  have  con- 
ducted family  worship  with  more  dignity  and  propriety 
than  he. 

Arrived  at  Cairo,  I  took  an  Illinois  Central  train  for 
Centralia,  where  I  was  due  to  change  cars  for  Vandalia 
on  the  other  line  of  the  road.  At  Centralia  I  sat  down 
to  the  first  civilized  meal  I  had  eaten  in  fifteen  months; 
and  a  white  table  cloth,  in  lieu  of  rough  boards  (which 
we  were  sometimes  so  fortunate  as  to  have),  clean  white 
plates,  teacups  and  saucers,  and  bright  knives  and  forks, 
in  the  place  of  tin  plates,  tin  cups  and  rusty  knives,  made 
an  impression  on  me  such  as  no  one  but  a  soldier  can 
realize.  In  due  time  I  arrived  at  Vandalia,  where  I  took 
the  hack  for  Greenville,  twenty  miles  west  and  not  then 
on  a  railroad,  Although  in  January,  the  day  was  not 
cold  and  the  ride  not  over  fatiguing. 

Arrived  home,  my  mother,  brother  and  sisters  were 
delighted  to  see  me,  but  must  have  been  shocked  at  my 
appearance,  so  thin  and  wan  had  I  become.  I  at  once 
set  about  the  business  ofi  trying  to  get  better. 

My  mother's  cooking  seemed  little  short  of  a  godsend, 
and  I  certainly  was  in  a  state  of  mind  to  appreciate  new 
milk,  fresh  eggs  and  sweet  butter.  Boiled  milk,  soft- 
cooked  eggs,  toast,  tea  and  coffee  comprised  my  staple 
diet,  and,  having  my  mother  prepare  these  for  me,  was 
a  great  satisfaction. 

From  time  to  time  I  consulted  a  physician,  took  his 
medicine  and  tried  to  carry  out  his  directions.  For- 
tunately, the  days  of  my  ravenous  appetite  had  gone  by. 


176  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Slowly,  very,  very  slowly  I  began  to  improve.  But  it 
was  not  unlike  a  man  walking  up  a  slippery  hill,  for  to- 
day I  would  be  better  and  tomorrow  not  so  well  again. 
I  would  gain  a  little,  and  then  seem  to  lose.  But,  for- 
tunately, in  the  long  run  my  really  vigorous  constitution 
served  me  a  good  part,  and  as  weeks  passed  by  I  could 
see  that  I  was  gaining. 

As  I  began  to  improve  I  grew  restless,  because  I  was 
away  from  my  regiment.  Indeed,  I  was  in  a  position  to 
sympathize  with  a  caged  bird.  For,  however  hard  it  was 
for  a  lad  to  in  the  beginning  relinquish  his  plans  in  civil 
life  and  join  the  army,  and  however  camp  life  may  at 
first  have  gone  against  the  grain,  after  a  time  associa- 
tions were  formed  and  ties  created  that  made  one's  regi- 
ment seem  his  real  and  only  proper  place.  Indeed,  one 
felt  an  interest  in  his  regiment  not  unlike  that  in  his  fam- 
ily, though,  of  course,  it  was  of  a  different  kind.  This 
interest  in  one's  command  produced  an  indescribable 
feeling  and  a  burning  desire  to  be  with  one's  organiza- 
tion and  share  its  fortunes,  whether  good  or  bad. 

By  and  by  came  inklings  of  a  campaign  which  the 
Army  of  the  Gulf,  in  which  my  regiment  was  an  integral 
part,  was  about  to  enter  upon  in  the  interior  of  Louisiana 
and  up  the  Red  River. 

Towards  the  end  of  April,  1864,  came  the  report  that 
this  campaign  had  ended  disastrously,  and  that  many  of 
my  regiment  had  been  killed,  wounded  and  captured! 
One  who  has  not  been  situated  as  I  then  was  can,  in  any 
sense,  realize  my  sensations  when  this  report  reached  me. 
Like  the  above-named  caged  bird,  beating  at  the  bars  of 
its  cage,  I  berated  the  fortune  that  had  driven  me  to, 
and  kept  me  at  my  home  where  I  could  not  share  the 
fortune  of  my  comrades,  bad  as  this1  proved  to  be  in  the 


Red  River — A  Disastrous  Campaign.    177 

end;  for,  in  due  time,  letters  were  received  telling  us 
that  a  number  in  my  regiment  had  been  killed  and 
wounded,  and  very  many  taken  prisoners.  All  this  made 
it  plain  that  the  organization  had  been  badly  crippled,  to 
put  it  mildly. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1864,  General  N.  P.  Banks, 
Commander  of  the  Army  of  the  Gulf  Department,  or- 
ganized an  expedition  which  had  as  its  main  object  the 
capture  of  Shreveport,  La.,  situated  on  Red  River.  The 
expedition  was  badly  managed  from  the  beginning,  and 
when  the  Federal  Army  approached  Mansfield,  La.,  its 
advance  brigade  was  attacked  by  a  superior  force  and 
badly  defeated  before  re-enforcements  could  be  brought 
up.  This  brigade,  a  small  one  under  the  command  of 
that  valiant  soldier,  General  T.  E.  G.  Ransom,  made  a 
heroic  resistance,  but  was  finally  beaten  by  overwhelm- 
ing numbers.  My  regiment  was  a  part  of  General  Ran- 
som's Brigade,  and,  with  the  rest,  fought  desperately  and 
lost  heavily  in  killed,  wounded  and  missing. 
—  Among  the  captured  was  the  medical  department  of 
the  regiment,  including  the  surgeons  and  all  the  hospital 
attaches,  who  were  well  treated  and  a  little  later  liberated 
because  they  were  non-combatants.  In  later  months, 
when  I  had  returned  to  my  regiment,  those  connected 
with  the  hospital  never  tired  of  telling  of  the  kind  and 
considerate  treatment  they  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
Confederate  surgeons,  and  one  of  these,  by  the  name  of 
Zeigler,  was  referred  to  as  especially  obliging,  and  like- 
wise a  fine  physician  and  skillful  operator.  After  get- 
ting "first-hand"  information  relative  to  the  Red  River 
expedition,  I  all  the  more  regretted  that  my  illness  had 
deprived  me  of  being  with  my  regiment  and  bearing  my 
humble  part;  for,  as  the  sequel  proved,  had  I  been  a 

12 


178  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

participant,  barring  accidents,  I  should  have  been  taken 
prisoner  and  thus  afforded  the  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
"inside"  of  what  we  'then  styled  "The  Great  Rebellion," 
and  then  liberated  along  with  my  associates,  and  per- 
mitted to  return  to  my  duties  in  the  regimental  medical 
department. 

But  to  go  back  to  my  invalidism  which  I  was  impa- 
tiently trying  to  endure,  and  if  possible;  overcome,  at  my 
home  in  Illinois.  As  said  before,  I  was  no  longer  tor- 
mented with  a  ravenous  appetite,  and  consequently  I  had 
little  trouble  in  sticking  close  to  the  prescribed  diet  of 
milk,  soft-cooked  eggs,  toast,  etc.  With  the  coming  of 
the  warm  spring  months  I  realized  that  I  was  making 
substantial  progress  on  the  road  toward  relative  recovery. 
I  was  gaining  in  strength  and  flesh,  and  one  day  felt 
strong  enough  to  mount  a  horse  and  ride  several  miles 
to  the  farmhouse  of  Captain  Denny  Donnell,  of  my  com- 
pany, who  was  promoted  to  the  captaincy  of  Company  F, 
after  the  death  of  Captain  Colby,  who,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, was  mortally  wounded  at  Vicksburg.  I  arrived  at 
the  Captain  Donnell  home  a  little  before  noon  on  a  beau- 
tiful May  day  and  gladly  accepted  an  invitation  to  stay 
to  dinner.  And  at  this  dinner,  now  fifty-two  years  in 
the  past,  I  yet  recall  most  excellent  home-made  bread, 
freshly  churned,  sweet  butter,  and  plenty  of  what  we  to- 
day call  "whole"  sweet  milk  of  the  very  best  quality. 
Doubtless,  my  ride  had  made  me  hungry,  but,  anyway,  I 
ate  heartily  and  was  none  the  worse  for  it. 

Although  four  months  had  gone!  by  since  I  had  seen 
Captain  Donnell,  yet  his  wife  was  greatly  interested  in 
meeting  someone  who  had  seen  and  talked  with  him  since 
she  had.  She  was  a  noble  woman,  had  a  number  of 
children,  and  was  managing  these  and  the  farm  besides. 


A  Soldier's  Wife.  179 

As  we  talked  about  her  husband,  the  tears  welled  up,  and 
these  at  first  she  tried  to  hide,  but  her  woman's  heart 
was  more  tender  than  her  will  was  strong,  and  in  the 
end  tears  suffused  her  cheeks.  Verily,  in  war-time  the 
women,  no  less  than  the  men,  have  their  burdens  to  bear 
and,  at  times,  to  all  but  stagger  under. 

As  said  before,  soon  after  getting  home  I  consulted  a 
physician  and,  for  a  time,  took  his  medicine,  but  after 
awhile,  not  seeing  any  pronounced  improvement,  stopped) 
taking  it.  I  had  the  usual  experience  of  friends  and  old 
ladies  coming  in  and  suggesting  various  cure-alls. 

One  day  I  met  an  officer  who  had  resigned  from  the 
army  on  account  of  a  severe  attack  of  chronic  diarrhea 
and  who  alleged  that  he  was  cured  by  using  very  freely 
a  decoction  made  of  a  certain  herb  which  he  described 
in  such  a  way  that  I  thought  I  could  identify  it.  Any- 
way, in  search  of  it  I  made  long  walks  about  the  country, 
but  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  that  I  had  found  the  plant 
with  the  alleged  healing  properties,  Finally,  I  decided  to 
give  the  matter  the  benefit  of  a  doubt  and  made  and 
drank  decoctions  of  various  weeds,  all  of  which  I  sur- 
vived and,  meantime,  slowly  improved,  as  said  before. 

Here  I  will  digress  and  anticipate  enough  to  say  that 
I  had  this  disease,  in  all,  no  less  than  six  years.  True,  I 
recovered  a  fair  degree  of  strength  and  my  normal 
weight,  but  when  feeling  .the  best,  I  realized  that  this 
ailment,  like  the  sword  of  Damocles,  was  ever  hanging 
over  me.  In  other  words,  I  was  never  free  from  a  pos- 
sible acute  manifestation  of  the  trouble;  for  the  fires  of 
disease  had  not  been  entirely  put  out,  so  to  speak,  and 
were  yet  smouldering,  ready  to  kindle  and  start  up  after 
any  imprudence  or  unusual  exposure. 


180  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

During  the  winter  of  1866-7,  more  than  a  year  after 
the  Civil  War,  I  attended  my  first  course  of  lectures  at 
Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  and  then  and  there  my  old  enemy  at 
times  hounded  me ;  and  upon  occasions  this  hounding  was 
especially  annoying  and  embarrassing.  A  little  error  in 
diet;  an  unusual  exposure  of  some  kind  was  almost  sure 
to  bring  on  an  attack. 

In  the  spring  of  1868  I  went  to  St.  Louis,  near  which 
city  I  lived,  to  take  a  summer  course  in  medicine.  I  was 
fortunate  in  being  given  the  privilege  of  dissecting  a  fine 
cadaver,  free  of  charge,  through  the  kindness  of  that 
accomplished  surgeon,  Dr.  John  T.  Hodgen,  then  in  the 
flower  of  his  career,  and  who  was  especially  kind  and 
helpful  to  me  in  various  other  ways.  One  of  the 
younger  McDowells  gave  special  demonstrations  in  anat- 
omy, which  I  also  had  the  privilege  of  attending.  I 
also  was  permitted  to  follow  the  best  surgeons  and 
internalists  through  the  wards  of  the  hospitals.  But  my 
old  enemy  again  hounded  me,  the  Mississippi  River  water 
acted  on  my  system  like  a  purgative,  and  my  old  trouble 
became  so  aggravated  that  I  was  obliged  to  leave  the 
city,  notwithstanding  the  exceptional  opportunities  I 
realized  I  was  leaving  behind  me.  Later,  I  began  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  had  been  thus  engaged  for 
some  time  before  the  attacks  of  my  old  army  trouble 
ceased  to  annoy  me.  But,  even  then  the  disease  left 
behind  certain  permanent  disabilities  which  I  will  not 
here  detail. 

This  much  I  have  thought  proper  to  refer  to  that  the 
reader,  who  has  come  on  the  stage  in  the  generation 
since  the  Civil  War  may  know  that,  even  the  more  for- 
tunate, who  participated  in  that  great  struggle,  came  out 


A  Soldier's  Bee-hive.  181 

of  it,  many  thousands  of  them,  very  much  the  worse, 
physically,  for  their  experience. 

As  the  month  of  June,  1864,  approached  I  became  so 
restless  that  I  determined  to  return  to  my  regiment, 
though  only  partially  recovered  in  health,  So,  one  bright 
day  we  drove  to  Vandalia  where  I  boarded  an  Illinois 
Central  train  for  Cairo,  111.,  which  I  reached  after  an  all- 
night  ride.  Cairo  was  a  most  important  place  during  the 
Civil  War.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  one  of  the  war's  great 
portals,  and  through  it  passed  immense  quantities  of 
munitions,  army  supplies,  stores  of  one  kind  and  another, 
and  many,  many  soldiers,  going  to  and  from  the  front. 
To  the  soldiers  it  was  not  unlike  the  mouth  of  a  great 
bee-hive.  Indeed,  the  men  serving  on  and  contiguous  to 
the  Mississippi,  literally  swarmed  there.  And  whether  it 
was  the  new  recruit,  the  veteran  going  to  the  front,  or 
others  going  home  on  furlough,  Cairo,  at  all  times, 
seemed  alive  with  bluecoats.  They  came  on  incoming 
trains  and  up-river  steamboats.  They  went  away  on 
outgoing  trains  and  down-river  boats,  and  meantime  they 
crossed  and  cris-crossed  the  town  in  every  direction. 
They  crowded  its  stations,  hotels,  boarding-houses  and! 
waiting-rooms,  and,  if  it  must  be  said,  its  saloons1,  as  well. 

I  secured  passage  on  a  down-river  steamboat,  but  be- 
fore this  started  I  was  almost  overcome!  by  heat,  as  that 
June  day  was  one  of  the  hottest  I  ever  experienced.  In 
due  time  the  boat  got  underway,  a  pleasant  breeze  sprang 
up  and  my  spirits  raised  with  the  prospect  of  soon  meet- 
ing my  comrades.  On  board  was  the  usual  complement 
of  soldiers,  nearly  all  of  whom  had  been  home  on  fur- 
loughs. From  time  to  time  the  boat  would  land  at  a 
woodyard  to  secure  needed  fuel,  and  it  was)  always  an 
interesting  sight  to  see  the  brawny  armed  negroes  carry 


182  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

the  wood  across  the  gang-plank  and  on  the  boat.  This 
work  was  often  accompanied  by  a  rhythmical  chant  from 
the  throats  of  the  dusky  toilers.  When  a  due  quantity 
of  wood  had  been  secured  the  bell  would  ring  for  all  to 
come  on  board,  the  gang-plank  would  be  hauled  in  and 
the  tinkle  of  a  small  bell  near  the  engine  would  be  the 
signal  for  the  vessel  to  again  get  underway. 

The  river  was  full,  the  banks  were  low  and  lined  with 
trees,  many  of  them  overhanging  the  water  and  clothed 
in  a  new  dress  of  rich  green.  After  a  time  a  series  of 
long  whistles  would  notify  us  that  the  boat  was  to  make 
a  landing  at  some  little)  river  town  where  freight  was  to 
be  put  off  and  some  taken  on.  Arrived  at  the  landing  a 
great  hawser  would  be  thrown  ashore  and  made  fast  to 
a  tree  or  strong  post,  then  the  gang-plank  would  be  put 
out,  and  over  this  would  go  the  always  stalwart  and  ever 
happy  deck  hands,  black  as  night,  most  of  them. 

Not  infrequently  we  would  come  to  a  gunboat,  when 
we  would  stop  while  some  of  its  crew  came  to  us  in  a 
yawl,  and  maybe  come  aboard  for  a  few  moments'  con- 
sultation with  the  captain;  for  guerrillas  and  bands  of 
Confederates  were  a  constant  menace  to  navigation,  and 
the  river  was  patrolled  from  St.  Louis  to  its  mouth  by 
armored  vessels,  and  more  than  half  the  steamboats  we 
met  showed  where  they  had  been  perforated  by  rifle  or 
cannon  shot.  (See  page  72.) 

When  we  had  passed  to  the  south  of  Memphis  I  was 
sitting  half  unconsciously  on  the  cabin  deck,  with  sev- 
eral companions,  toward  the  forward  part  of  the  vessel, 
when,  on  the  Mississippi  shore,  a  man  was  seen  to 
approach  the  water's  edge  and  raise  a  gun  to  his  shoulder 
and  fire  in  our  direction.  We  were  near  the  middle  of 
the  river  and  the  bullet  struck  the  water  not  far  from 


"Home  Again."  183 

the  boat.  Some  of  those  about  me,  thinking  that  maybe 
there  were  more  rifllemen  to  spring  up,  became  a  little 
excited.  One  of  these,  a  large  burly  naval  officer,  ran 
and  took  refuge  behind  a  cotton  bale.  Here,  it  is  proper 
to  say,  that  every  Mississippi  steamboat  in  war-time  pro- 
tected all  its  decks  with  piles  of  cotton  bales.  But  it 
turned  out  that  the  man  who  fired  the  musket  was  our 
solitary  foeman,  if  foe  he  was,  for  no  one  knew  his 
motive. 

While  I  knew  that  my  regiment  was  at  some  point  on 
the  river  I  did  not  know  just  where.  Finally  at  some 
place  we  landed  well  down  the  Mississippi  I  learned  that 
it  was  at  Baton  Rouge,  which  place  was  reached  about 
midnight  near  the  middle  of  June;  and,  although  the 
night  was  dark  and  all  about  strange,  it  was  with  a  glad 
heart  that  I  stepped  upon  the  wharf  and  ascertained 
from  some  soldiers  on  guard  that  my  regiment  was 
encamped  about  a  half  mile  away.  Following  the  direc- 
tions given  me  and  walking  for  a  time,  I  saw  through 
the  gloom  the  shadowy  outline  of  tents,  and  among  these 
found  first  my  regiment  and  then  its  medical  department, 
where,  with  my  knapsack  for  a  pillow  and  blanket  for 
cover,  was  soon  fast  asleep. 

Early  next  morning  I  was  up  to  receive  the  greetings 
of  friends.  And  will  the  reader  believe  me  when  I  say 
that  I  now  felt  really  at  home  again,  and  for  the  first 
time  since  leaving  my  regiment,  five  months  before,  was 
happy  and  content.  Doubtless,  part  of  this  feeling  was 
due  to  my  much  improved  health. 

While  many  of  our  men  had  been  captured,  a  consid- 
erable nucleus  was  left,  and  in  the  ranks  and  among  the 
officers  I  came  across  not  a  few  of  my  old  friends  and 
acquaintances.  I  found  my  individual  department  not  a 


184  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

little  "down-at-the-heel,"  if  I  may  so  speak,  and  I  soon 
got  busy  setting  things  to  rights  and  getting  in  the  har- 
ness again. 

Not  long  after  my  return  a  number  of  the  regimental 
officers  came  to  us  who  had  been  captured  at  Mansfield, 
but  were  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  paroles.  Among 
these  was  our  Lieutenant  Colonel  John  B.  Reid,  who  was 
shot  through  the  lungs  and  was  first  reported  killed,  but, 
fortunately,  made  a  good  recovery,  served  till  the  war 
ended  and  returned  to  Greenville,  111.,  where  he  recently 
died  of  old  age,  He  was  one  of  the  bravest  and  best 
officers  in  our  regiment,  and  had  the  esteem  and  respect 
of  all. 


Lieutenant-Colonel  John  B.  Reid,  130th  Illinois 
Infantry  Volunteers. 


CHAPTER   XX. 
ON  THE  MISSISSIPPI  IN  1864. 

"War's  a  brain-splitting,  wind-pipe  slitting,  art 
Unless  her  cause  by  right  is  sanctified." 

— BYRON. 

"Tents,  guidons,  bannerole  are  moved  afar, — 
Rising  elsewhere  as  rises  a  morning-star." 

— E.  C.  STEDMAN. 

BATON  ROUGE  seemed  quite  a  pleasant  place,  though 
its  State  House  was  in  ruins,  having  been  burned  in  the 
exigencies  of  war  and  left  with  some  of  its  bare  brick 
walls  standing.  Just  north  of  the  town  was  the  Arsenal 
enclosed  with  earthworks  and  well  protected  by  artillery. 
In  this  the  Post  Quartermaster  had  his  office  and  sup- 
plies, and  hither  I  was  wont  to  come  to  get  the  hospital 
rations. 

It  was  Baton  Rouge's  fortune  to  be  twice  in  the  hands 
of  the  Confederates  and  twice  in  the  possession  of  the 
Federals.  The  Confederates  occupied  it  from  the  out- 
break of  the  war  till  the  Federals  took  possession  of  it 
shortly  after  Farragut  captured  New  Orleans  in  the 
spring  of  1862.  General  Williams,  with  several  thousand 
troops,  was  stationed  here,  and  in  the  summer  of  1862 
there  was  so  much  serious  sickness  that  the  ranks  were 
very  much  thinned.  Learning  of  this,  General  John  C. 
Breckenridge  attacked  the  Federals  in  strong  force, 
August  5,  1862.  General  Williams  could  rally  but 
twenty-five  hundred  men  for  the  defense,  almost  pre- 
cisely one-half  the  strength  of  the  Confederates,  who 
attacked  with  great  vigor.  Maine,  Vermont,  Connecticut, 

(185) 


186  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Indiana  were 
represented  in  General  Williams'  little  army,  but  so 
many  men  were  sick  that  the  regiments  engaged  had 
been  reduced  to  mere  skeletons.  The  Indiana  regiment 
lost  all  its  field  officers,  and  General  Williams,  putting 
himself  at  its  head,  said:  "Boys,  I  will  lead  you,"  and, 
suiting  the  action  to  the  word,  was  received  with  hearty 
cheers,  but  a  moment  later  received  a  rifle  ball  in  the 
breast  and  died  instantly.  The  Confederates  were  re- 
pulsed, but  nevertheless,  Baton  Rouge  was  a  little  later 
evacuated  by  the  Federals. 

In  December,  1862,  the  Capitol  City  was  again  taken 
possession  of  by  Union  troops,  and  never  afterwards 
passed  from  their  control. 

Our  camp  was  delightfully  located  and,  although  it 
was  mid-summer,  yet  the  weather  was  enjoyable  and  as 
moderate  as  could  be  wished  for.  Somewhere  we  found 
a  book  on  games,  and  somehow  it  occured  to  us  to  learn 
to  play  chess.  At  one  of  the  Baton  Rouge  stores  we 
found  a  set  of  chess  made  out  of  bone,  and  that,  I  think, 
the  dealer  proposed  to  sell  us  for  three  dollars  and  a 
half.  We  realized  that  it  was  a  case  of  robbery,  but  as 
we  wanted  the  chess,  we  "chipped  in"  and  the  coveted 
chessmen  were  ours.  At  the  game  we  spent  hours  and 
hours,  and  in  the  end  became  average  players.  Among 
those  in  the  regiment  who  played  with  us  was  a  private 
by  the  name  of  Hunt,  who  had  very  black  hair,  very 
black  eyes  and  very  long  black  whiskers.  He  had  a  high 
forehead  and  unusually  good  features;  indeed,  he  was 
what  would,  today,  be  termed  a  typical  "high-brow."  I 
can  see  him  yet  in  a  brown  study  over  a  contemplated 
chess-move,  his  long  whiskers  wrapped  about  one  hand 
and  his  fine  eyes  alight  with  the  purpose  he  had  in  mind. 


A  Burning  Steamer.  187 

He  seemed  to  have  within  him  the  seeds  of  promise,  and 
I  have  often  wondered  what  his  future  did  for  him,  for 
when  the  war  ended  we  parted  company  and  I  have 
never  since  seen  or  heard  from  him. 

There  were  not  a  few  well  cultivated  gardens  around 
Baton  Rouge,  and  we  used  to  buy  beans,  cabbage,  peas, 
new  potatoes,  greens,  etc.,  and  these  our  hospital  caterer 
always  knew  how  to  cook  to  the  best  advantage.  Not 
infrequently  the  "natives"  were  glad  to  trade  their 
vegetables  for  our  surplus  rations  of  coffee,  tea,  bacon, 
rice,  etc. 

But  all  too  soon  the  day  came  when  we  were  ordered 
to  leave  our  pleasant  surroundings  at  Baton  Rouge  and 
go  up  the  river  to  Morganza  Bend.,  La.,  where  a  division 
of  Federal  troops  was  encamped.  We,  of  course,  obeyed 
orders,  went  aboard  a  boat,  steamed  up  the  river  and, 
in  due  time,  reached  our  destination  and  went  about 
making  our  new  quarters  as  comfortable  as  circumstances 
would  allow. 

Not  long  after  reaching  Morganza  Bend  our  cook  got 
a  furlough  and  went  up  the  river  to  his  home  in  Illinois. 
We  missed  him  at  his  always  well-filled  post,  but  got 
along  as  well  as  we  could  without  him.  One  day  a  boat 
came  to  the  landing,  and  off  it  clambered  Tom  Ralph, 
our  greatly  missed  cook.  We  soon  learned  that  the  boat 
he  had  just  got  off  from  was  the  second  one  he  had 
boarded  since  leaving  Cairo.  Somewhere  south  of  Vicks- 
burg  the  first  one  caught  fire,  the  captain  headed  for  the 
nearest  shore,  but  before  this  was  reached  the  vessel 
became  unmanageable,  and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but 
jump  in  the  river  and  swim  ashore,  which  Tom  did,  but 
others  failed  to  do  so,  and  were  drowned. 


188  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

After  the  war  had  been  in  progress  a  year  or  two 
the  Sanitary  Commission  was  organized.  This  organiza- 
tion had  the  support  of  wealthy  and  prominent  people 
throughout  the  North,  and  was  the  means  of  relieving 
much  suffering  among  the  soldiers.  It  supplied  cotton 
shirts  and  gowns  for  the  sick.  The  reader  should  bear 
in  mind  that  the  war  had  almost  destroyed  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton  in  the  Southern  States,  and  what  was 
raised  could  not  be  disposed  of,  consequently  cotton 
goods  were  at  a  premium.  (See  page  106.)  At  home 
women  were  paying  50  cents  a  yard  for  their  calico 
dresses,  and  esteemed  themselves  well  attired  when 
arrayed  in  one.  The  Sanitary  Commission  supplied  the 
hospitals  with  loaf  sugar,  home-made  wines,  preserves, 
soda  crackers,  etc.,  all  of  which  were  delicacies  compared! 
with  army  rations.  Further  than  this,  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission did  quite  a  little  in  the  way  of  supplying  the 
soldiers  with  reading  matter.  Harper's  Monthly,  The 
Atlantic,  Harper's  Weekly  and  Frank  Leslie's  Weekly 
were  some  of  the  periodicals,  and  the  Standard,  Advo- 
cate, Herald  and  Observer  were  some  of  the  papers  fur- 
nished; and,  although  they  were  all  back  numbers,  yet 
they  were  greatly  appreciated  and  read  with  avidity. 

To  the  soldier  of  literary  tastes  the  scarcity  of  reading 
matter  was  one  of  his  greatest  privations,  and  to  procure 
even  a  modicum  in  this  direction  was  always  a  task.  An 
odd  volume  was  sometimes  picked  up — today,  it  would 
possibly  be  in  a  deserted  house;  next  week  some  gem 
in  the  literary  way  would  maybe  be  found  in  the  hands 
of  a  soldier  who  lacked  appreciation  and  who  was  ready 
to  part  with  it  "for  a  song."  The  book,  when  read,  was 
apt  to  be  put  in  the  hands  of  a  friend,  who  would  scan 
its  pages  and  pass  it  on  to  an  appreciative  comrade  who 


Some  Literary  Morsels.  189 

would  do  likewise.  Throwing  about  camp  and  appar- 
ently uncared  for,  I  found  a  fine  copy  of  Byron  and 
another  of  Shakespeare,  which  I  rescued,  read  and  have 
yet  in  my  possession.  If  the  owner  of  the  library,  from 
which  I  fear  they  were  at  first  purloined,  will  come  for- 
ward and  identify  property,  I  shall  be  glad  to  surrender 
the  volumes,  though  they  have  now  been  in  my  library 
for  more  than  fifty  years. 

At  one  time  during  the  Siege  of  Vicksburg  Colonel 
Nathaniel  Niles,  of  my  regiment,  was  indisposed  and 
came  to  the  hospital  to  recuperate  for  a  few  days.  He 
was  a  man  of  rare  culture  and  education.  A  little  while 
before  I  had  somewhere  picked  up  an  elementary  work 
on  chemistry  and  was  studying  it  as  best  I  could,  as  it 
was  directly  in  my  line  of  work. 

This  work  fell  into  the  hands  of  Colonel  Niles,  who 
read  it  from  beginning  to  end  with  avidity.  At  home, 
where  reading  matter  was  in  plenty,  the  chances  are  he 
would  have  scarcely  glanced  at  a  work  on  so  dry  a  sub- 
ject as  chemistry.  But  "circumstances  alter  cases"  is  an 
old  adage  no  less  true  in  literary  matters  than  elsewhere. 


CHAPTER   XXI. 

AUNT  TILDA. 

"The  only  reason  we  don't  see  good  things  everywhere  is  be- 
cause we  haven't  good  eyes." 

— SELECTED. 

"True  wit  is  nature  to  advantage  dressed." 

—POPE. 

OUR  first  acquaintance  with  Aunt  Tilda,  a  negro 
woman,  and,  as  we  learned  later,  a  typical  Southern 
"Mammy,"  began  when  she  came  to  our  regimental  camp 
to  secure  any  washing  or  mending  the  men  might  care  to 
have  her  do.  In  due  time  her  quaint  talk  and  original 
ways  made  her  an  object  of  interest  to  the  more  appre- 
ciative among  us,  and,  consequently,  when  we  received 
marching  orders  and  moved  camp  Aunt  Tilda  moved 
with  us,  and  thus,  in  a  way,  came  to  be  a  sort  of  fixture 
in  our  regiment.  A  little  old  tent  was  given  her  for  the 
time  being,  and  when  in  camp  this  was  put  up  imme- 
diately behind  the  officers'  quarters.  In  this  tent  she 
slept,  had  her  few  belongings,  and  about  it  did  her  cook- 
ing and  washing.  In  addition  to  washing  and  mending 
for  the  men  she  made  and  sold  to  them  sundry  eatables, 
among  which  were  such  staples  as  johnnycake  and  corn- 
pone. 

In  stature,  Aunt  Tilda  was  inclined  to  be  "husky,"  her 
face  was  round  as  the  full  moon,  as  black  as  night,  and 
this  last  was  emphasized  by  the  gleam  of  her  teeth  and 
the  glint  of  the  whites  of  her  big  eyes.  Her  head  was, 
at  all  times,  properly  turbaned  with  a  red  bandanna 

(190) 


"Dem  Shelbys"  Am  "Quality  Folks.3'    191 

handkerchief  and  a  cob  pipe  was  ail-but  continuously  in 
her  mouth,  and  this,  at  intervals,  she  puffed  vigorously. 

In  due  time  we  came  to  recognize  in  Aunt  Tilda  a  real 
"diamond-in-the-rough,"  for  she  was  intelligent  in  her 
way,  and  was,  furthermore,  endowed  with  no  little  wit 
and  a  good  deal  of  homely  philosophy. 

From  her  lips  we  gained  something  of  an  insight  into 
African  slavery  as  it  existed  in  the  Southern  States  be- 
fore the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War.  However,  she 
never  had  anything  but  good  words  for  her  master  and 
mistress,  and  more  than  once  I  heard  her  avow  that : 

"Dem  Shelbys  dat  own'd  me  wa'nt  nun  o'  yo'  po' 
white  trash,  dey  was  quality  folks,  dat's  what  dey  sho' 
was." 

But,  as  was  the  case  in  so  many  other  instances,  as  the 
war  continued  it  brought  death  and  ruin  to  the  Shelby 
home,  "quality  folks"  though  its  inmates  were. 

To  quote  Aunt  Tilda's  words : 

"Yung  Mastah  Henry  Shelby  dun  jine  de  ahmy  at  de 
fust  beat  o'  de  drum  an'  dey  'lected  him  Majah  in  one 
o'  de  fust  Tennissy  rigimints  dat  dun  gwine  to  de  wah. 
When  Mastah  Henry  rode  off  he  was  mighty  proud  in 
his  new  rigimintels  dat  was  sho'  de  finest  I  eber  sot 
eyes  on. 

"But  poah  yung  Mastah  Henry,  he  nebah  seed  much 
o'  de  wah,  kase  he  dun  gwine  and  got  kilt  in  a  skumish 
de  va'ay  fust  skrimige  he  rigimint  dun  got  in.  Dey  dun 
bring  de  cawpse  on  de  steam  kya's  to  de  stashun  an' 
from  dere  de  yundetakah  bring  it  in  de  huss  to  de  big 
house,  When  dey  dun  bring  de  cawpse  on  de  poach 
Mastah  Shelby  dun  'ring  he  han's  an'  hollah  till  dey  dun 
hud  him  clear  ober  to  Mawpin's  Crick.  But  Misitis 
Shelby,  she  jis'  cry,  quietlack,  and  wipe  huh  eyes  wid  he 


192  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

hankercher  dat  yung  Mastah  Henry  dun  giv'  huh  fa  de 
birfday. 

"Den  de  preachah  an'  all  de  quality  folks  kem  to  do 
big  house  an'  helt  de  biggus  fun'l  I  eber  dun  seed.  Dey 
dun  dig  de  grave  in  de  fambly  berrin'  groun'  back  o'  de 
auchid,  an'  when  de  clods  fall  on  de  clab-boad's  dat  covah 
de  cawfin,  Mastah  Shelby  'ring  he  han's  an'  moan  like 
he  sho'  gwine  to  be  daid.  But  Mistis  Shelby,  she  jist' 
cry  an'  wipe  'way  huh  teahs  wid  de  hankercher  dat  yung 
Mastah  Henry  dun  giv'  huh. 

"Pooty  soon  aftah  yung  Mastah  Henry's  fun'l  de 
toomstone  man  dun  kem  to  de  big  house  an'  Mastah 
Shelby  dun  tole  de  man  what  he  want  him  do.  Den,  one 
day,  de  man  kem  back  wid  a  toomstone  white  as  de  snow 
in  de  wintah,  an'  what  had  at  de  top  a  weepin'  willah  an' 
undah  a  big  swo'd  jist'  lack  yung  Mastah  Henry  dun 
gwine  an'  whup'd  de  whole  wuld. 

"Yung  Mastah  Jeems  Shelby,  he  'low  he  mus'  jine  de 
black  hoss  calvry  dat  he  dun  read  'bout  in  all  de  papahs. 
Mastah  Shelby,  he  say  no,  an'  Mistis  Shelby,  she  say  no, 
but  yung  Mastah  Jeems  was  haud  in(  he  haid,  so  he  dun 
put  he  saddle  on  de  blackus  hos  on  de  place,  load  he 
faddah's  hoss  pistil  an'  rid  'way  to  jine  de  black  hoss 
calvry  in  ole  Virginy  dat  he  dun  bin  read'n  'bout  in  all 
he  papahs. 

"Poah  Mastah  Jeems,  nobudy  dun  seen  hide  nah  ha-ah 
o'  him  since  he  dun  rid  'way  on  de  black  hoos,  an'  wid 
de  hoss  pistil  in  one  o'  he  han's  an'  de  bridle  rein  in  de 
uddah.  Mastah  Shelby  'quired  'bout  him  eberywhere, 
put  Vertismints  in  all  de  papahs,  but  nobuddy  seed  him 
an'  nobuddy  hud  'bout  him  no  place.  Poah  yung  Mastah 
Jeems,  he  jis'  dun  gwine  awf  de  yuth  lack  he  de  thinnis' 
ah. 


War's  Harvest.  193 


"Yung  Mastah  Nels  Shelby,  he  dun  gwine  an'  jine  too. 
Den  he  dun  gwine  an'  got  tuck  prisner,  an'  Mastah  an' 
Mistis  not  heah  from  dey  son  fah  long,  long  time  an' 
den  dey  b'leebe  he  daid.  But  one  day,  when  dey  dun 
gwine  an'  guess  he  sho'  daid,  Mastah  Nels  dun  an'  walk 
right  in  fru  de  do'.  An'  Mastah  Shelby,  he  laugh  an' 
hollah,  an'  Mistis  Shelby,  she  jis  smile  an'  kiss  yung 
mastah. 

"But  poah  Mastah  Nels,  he  jis'  a  shaddah,  an'  he  dun 
tolt  all  we'uns  he  dun  got  de  febahs  in  de  pris'n  an'  de 
Yanky  doctahs  dey  guess  he  sho'  die.  Den  he  furgit  he 
ise'f .  Den  bime'm  by  he  fine  he  se'f  agin,  an'  he  so  pow'- 
ful  weak  he  caint  tu'n  obah  in  de  baid.  Den  he  dun 
gwine'n  git  little  bettah  an'  when  de  C'mishnur  kem  he 
dun  gwine  an'  git  exchang'.  Den  he  dun  tuck  de  steam 
kyahs  an'  retch'd  de  stashun  neah  de  big  house,  an'  a 
man  he  tuch  'm  in  he  buggy  an'  cay'd  'm  to  he  faddah's 
gate. 

"But  poah  Mastah  Nels,  he  lack  he  muddah's  cookin' 
so  well  he  dun  gwine  an'  et  so  much  he  got  a  'lapse  o' 
de  febahs,  de  doctah  say.  Den  he  lose  he  se'f  an'  nebah 
fine  he  se'f,  but  jis'  gwine'n  breav  he  las'  bref. 

"Den  all  de  quality  kem  an'  dey  dun  gwine'n  have 
nuddah  big  fun'l,  an'  dey  put  poah  yung  Mastah  Nels 
in  de  grave  side  o'  he  bruddah.  An'  Matsah  Shelby,  he 
dun  gwine'n  gits  nuddah  white  toomstone  wid  a  broke- 
awf  weepin'  willah  at  de  top  an'  a  big  muskit  at  de  bot- 
tum,  jis'  lack  he  dun  gwine  an'  shoot  all  de  Yankis. 

"Den  de  Yankis  kem  to  Mastah  Shelby's  and  tuck  all 
he  hosses,  druv  awf  de  cattul,  kilt  all  he  hawgs  an'  cotch 
all  de  chickuns.  Den  'bout  de  nex  wick  de  Cornfed'ts 
kem  an'  tuck  what  de  Yankis  lef.  Den  dey  kep'  see- 
sawin'  lack ;  fust  de  Yankis  den  de  Cornfed'ts,  an'  at  las' 

13 


194  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

dah  was  jis'  lef  de  chimblys  ob  de  big  house  an'  de  bodis 
ob  de  big  pines,  Yes,  chile,  when  de  sojah's  was  all  gone 
an'  de  bun'in  was  all  dun  gone  out,  dese  was  all  dere 
was  lef  stanin',  an'  sho's  yu's  bawn  dem  chimblys  an' 
dem  white  tree-bodis  look  jis'  lack  dey  was  han'ts  an' 
ghostes. 

"Wid  de  chilluns  all  daid  an'  de  stalk  all  kilt  and'  run'd 
awf,  an'  wid  de  big  house,  de  bawns  an'  de  qua'tabs  all 
bun'd  down,  Mastah  an'  Mistis  Shelby  seed  dere  was 
nuffin  lef  fur  um  to  do  but  to  cross  de  ribbah  an'  go 
down  to  Texas,  whah  dah  was  no  fitin'  an'  whah  Mastah 
had  a  bruddah.  But  Mastah  an'  Mistis  'low'd  dey  was 
dat  poah  dey  would  have  to  leave  all  de  niggahs  but  jis' 
Calline,  de  cook,  an'  Uncle  Jonas,  de  butlah." 

One  day,  after  recounting  some  of  the  above,  Aunt 
Tilda's  feelings  got  the  better  of  her,  and  after  crying 
for  a  time  she  wiped  her  eyes  on  her  dress  skirt. and! 
spoke  substantially  as  follows: 

"Jis'  to  cawnsidah !  Dem  Shelby  chilluns  all  daid !  De 
big  house,  de  bawns,  de  gin,  de  qua'tahs  's  all  in  ashes! 
An'  poah  Mastah  an'  Mistis  Shelby  dun  gwine  'way  down 
in  Texas  whah  I  sho'  neber  seed  um  eny  moah ! 

"Dem  Shelby  chilluns,  dat's  all  dun  gwine'n  to  dey 
graves  was  jis'  lak  dey  was  de  same  as  mine.  Yung 
Mastah  Henry  was  jis'  six  weeks  yungah  dan  my 
N'polyun;  an'  yung  Mastah  Jeems  was  less'n  a  yeah 
oldah  dan  my  Ce'sah;  an'  yung  Mastah  Nels  was  bawn 
on  de  same  day  wid  my  P'laski.  Dem  Shelby  chilluns, 
dey  all  dun  gwine  an'  suck  des  yere  ole  black  bres's  jis' 
lack  dey  was  my  own,  an'  lack  de  blood  in  da'ah  bodis 
was  de  same  as  de  blood  dat  run  fru  my  vains.  An' 
when  dey  gits  a  little  biggah  dey  plays  wid  my  boys  jis' 
lack  dey  was  all  bruddahs.  An'  nun  o'  dem  cay'd  who 


Slaves  and  Some  Slave-owners.         195 

was  black  an'  who  was  white,  all  jis'  de  same  wid  dem 
six  childuns." 

But  while  Aunt  Tilda  was  loyal  to  the  Shelbys  and  had 
nothing  but  good  words  for  all  of  that  name,  she  made 
it  plain  to  all  of  us  that  there  were  slave  holders  and 
slave  holders,  and  among  those  whom  she  condemned 
were  the  Jimps,  or,  as  she  called  them,  "dem  Jimpses." 
She  told  us  that  Jabez  Jimps  raised  negroes  to  sell  to  the 
States  in  the  lower  South  to  work  on  the  cotton  and 
sugar  plantations,  and  that  no  sooner  had  a  "likely"  boy 
or  girl  reached  young  manhood  or  young  womanhood, 
than  he  or  she  was  sold  to  the  highest  bidder  and  sent 
down  the  river  in  slave  gangs.  Aunt  Tilda  also  gave  us 
to  understand  that  some  of  these  "likely"  young  negroes 
were  almost  white,  and  common  report  said  that  Jabez 
Jimp's  blood  circulated  in  their  veins. 

After  speaking  of  the  Shelbys  one  day,  Aunt  Tilda 
said:  "My  chilluns  all  dun  an'  gwine  'way  too.  My 
N'polyun  went  wid  he  yung  Mastah  Henry,  an'  when  he 
dun  git  kilt  kem  home  wid  de  cawpse  an'  aftah  de  barry- 
in'  he  dun  gwine  an'  jine  de  Yankis.  Bime-by  my 
Ce'sah  dun  gwine  an'  jine  de  Yankis  too,  lack  all  de 
yuthus.  My  P'laski  dun  gwine'n  jine  de  cullud  rigimint 
an'  I'se  huh'd  dey  p'mote  him  to  caw'pul,  an'  I  am' 
'sprise  kase  he  all  de  time  wah  prim  an'  straight  lack  a 
rail  sojer." 

Upon  one  occasion  Aunt  Tilda  said:  "I  sho'  doan' 
know  what  some  o'  de  niggahs  is  gwine  to  do  wid  de 
libertis  Mastah  Linkum  dun  gib  to  um.  Dey  is  mos'  all 
so  triflin'  an'  shif'lis.  My  ole  man  'Rastus  wah  dat  kine, 
too,  an'  I  specs  he  's  daid,  kase  he  wah  jis'  nachilly  too 
triflin'  to  live." 


196  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Aunt  Tilda  was  full  of  wise  sayings,  so  full,  indeed, 
that  sometimes  she  seemed  a  sort  of  black  female  ^Esop. 
I  cannot  recall  half  of  her  sage  utterances,  but  the  fol- 
lowing is  the  substance  of  some  of  them : 

"What  did  de  good  Lawd  gib  us  two  yurs  fur  an'  jis' 
one  tung  ef  'twant  to  lis'n  twict  an'  speak  jis'  onct!" 

"When  yu  's  wastin'  time,  chile,  yu  's  jis'  nachilly 
wastin'  what  yo'  deah  life  's  made  out'n." 

"Honey,  ef  yu  keeps  on  a  steppin'  an'  a  goin'  yu  mos' 
al'us  sho'  gits  up  de  hill,  sometime." 

"Sometimes  yu  bettah  hole  yo'  han's  an'  give  yo'  haid 
a  chanct." 

"De  roostah  do  a  heaps  o'  crowin',  but  de  hen  sho' 
lays  de  aig." 

"Chile,  doan  nebah  be  huntin'  trouble,  kase  heaps  o' 
it's  'sho'  to  fine  yu." 

"Mastah  Shelby  was  always  'fear'd  de  cricks  was 
gwine  to  rise  an'  spile  de  craps  an'  drown  de  stalk,  but 
Mistis  Shelby  say  she  did'n  b'lebe  in  crossin'  cricks  till 
yu  gits  nigh  to  um,  an'  she  sho'  wa'nt  gwine  to  pestah 
huh  mine  wid  sich  unsuh'tn  mattahs  nohow." 

"Somehow  de  niggahs  on  de  plantashun  lack  old  Mistis 
betten'd  dey  did  old  Mastah." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

How  THE   SOLDIERS  RECEIVED  THEIR  MONEY,  AND 
How  SOME  OF  THEM   GOT  RID  OF  IT. 

THE  PAYMASTER  AND  THE  SUTLER. 

"If  money  goe  before,  all  ways  do  lie  open." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

"A  fool  and  his  money  are  soon  parted." 

— OLD  ADAGE. 

AT  intervals,  various  in  duration,  we  were  visited  by 
the  paymaster,  who  paid  us  what  was  coming  from  the 
Government.  A  paymaster  had  the  rank  of  Major  in  the 
regular  army.  To  us  in  the  field  he  always  came  with 
his  "strong  box"  conveyed  in  an  ambulance,  or  army 
wagon,  and  well  guarded  by  a  troop  of  cavalry  with 
loaded  carbines  in  their  hands.  Reaching  a  particular 
regiment  he  would  go  over  the  amount  due  each  man, 
as  reported  by  the  Adjutant,  and,  if  this  was  found  cor- 
rect, the  specified  sum  would  be  put  in  a  pay  envelope; 
then  the  men  would  be  formed  in  line,  and  when  the 
name  of  a  given  soldier  was  called  he  would  step  for- 
ward and  receive  his  money,  which  was  always  in  cur- 
rency or  "greenbacks."  Even  small  fractional  amounts 
were  paid  in  paper  money,  as  neither  gold,  silver,  nor 
even  copper  was  in  circulation. 

The  paymaster  always  had  on  a  bright,  new  uniform, 
his  linen  was  immaculate,  and  his  boots  never  failed  to 
be  glossy  black.  In  all  this  he  presented  a  striking  con- 
trast to  the  other  officers  in  active  service  in  the  field. 

(197) 


198  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  more  thrifty  among  the  soldiers  sent,  by  far,  the 
greater. part  of  their  pay  home.  In  most  instances  this 
was  done  through  express  companies  which  followed  us 
in  the  field,  and  were  new  institutions  to  practically  all 
of  us.  The  prudent  soldier,  if  so  disposed,  had  oppor- 
tunity to  lay  by  substantially  all  his  wages,  which,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  war,  was  for  the  private  soldier  $13 
per  month,  but  later  was  advanced  to  $16.  The  ration 
furnished  by  the  Government  was  ample,  and  so  was  the 
clothing  allowed  each  man.  Indeed,  some  of  the  more 
thrifty  did  not  use  all  that  was  allowed  in  this  way,  and 
consequently  received  commutation  in  the  way  of  small, 
but  by  no  means,  intangible  amounts  of  money. 

As  said  above,  a  few  men  sent  their  pay  home  to 
almost  the  last  cent.  In  contrast  to  these  of  the  more 
thrifty  there  was  a  pitiful  minority  who  had  squandered 
their  last  farthing  in  a  few  hours  after  being  paid  off. 
How?  Some  of  them  in  gambling  with  cards,  some  of 
them  at  dice,  and  others  by  indulging  in  what  was  called 
"chuck-a-luck."  This  last  was  a  game  of  chance,  with 
the  chances  very  greatly  against  the  poor  soldier  victim 
on  the  outside. 

Not  a  few  "blew-in"  all  they  had  received  from  the 
paymaster  at  the  Sutler's  tent.  The  Sutler  was  the 
recognized  regimental  merchant.  After  securing  the  con- 
sent of  the  commanding'  officer  the  Sutler  proceeded  to 
lay  in  a  stock  of  such  things  as  he  thought  the  men  would 
need  in  the  field,  and  in  amount  about  what  could  be 
loaded  in  a  wagon. 

His  stock  included  such  articles  as  tobacco,  cigars, 
lemons,  oranges,  apples,  candy,  raisins,  soda  crackers, 
cakes,  canned  fruits  of  various  kinds,  loaf  sugar,  mack- 
erel, salt  fish,  bacon,  ginger  ale,  "pop"  and  other  "soft" 


The  Army  Sutler.  199 

drinks.  Nearly  all  these  articles  were  outside  the  sol- 
dier's rations,  and  were  hence,  by  him,  regarded  as 
luxuries  which  the  more  provident  refused  to  buy. 

Arrived  in  camp  the  Sutler  transferred  his  goods  to  a 
strong  tent  of  proper  size,  which  through  the  day,  was 
open  in  front  and,  at  which,  was  a  wide  transverse  board 
which  served  the  double  purpose  of  counter  and  show- 
case. The  sides  of  the  tent  came  well  down  and  were 
securely  fastened.  The  Sutler  always  slept  in  his  tent 
and  in  the  midst  of  his  stock.  However,  sometimes  a 
thief  would  take  advantage  of  the  darkness  to  rip  a  hole 
in  the  sides  of  the  tent  and  make  a  hasty  dash  for  what- 
ever he  might  be  able  to  lay  his  hands  on. 

That  the  Sutler's  prices  were  always  high,  and  some- 
time even  exorbitant,  can  well  be  imagined.  But  to  make 
a  good  profit  he  had  to  mark  his  goods  high,  for  he 
necessarily  incurred  great  risk.  In  the  field  he  was  in 
danger  of  capture.  Then,  when  the  regiment  had  orders 
to  move  on  short  notice,  he  had  to  pack  his  stock  hur- 
riedly and  often  put  it  "pell-mell"  in  a  wagon  for  transfer 
to  the  next  camping  place.  Furthermore,  unless  quickly 
turned  some  of  his  goods  would  grow  stale  on  his  hands. 
One  article  of  this  nature  was  butter,  which  not  infre- 
quently became  so  rancid  as  to  be  wholly  unusable. 

As  to  the  Sutler  himself,  he  might  be  long  or  short. 
He  might  be  a  blonde  or  brunette.  He  might  be  a  native 
or  foreigner.  But  one  thing  he  was  always  sure  to  be, 
namely,  "on  the  make."  At  the  time  the  average  regi- 
ment was  organized  those  who  joined  it  were  actuated 
by  motives  more  or  less  mixed  in  character.  But  with 
the  Sutler  it  was  different,  for  his  sole  motive  was  gain. 

An  "easy-mark"  for  the!  Sutler  was  the  financial  "ten- 
derfoot," the  "live-to-day-and-starve-to-morrow"  man 


200  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

who  was  in  every  regiment,  in  every  company,  and  in- 
deed, in  practically  every  squad.  And  no  sooner  had  this 
"come-easy-go-easy"  specimen  received  his  pay  than  he 
forthwith  went  to  the  Sutler's  tent  and  proceeded  to  get 
"outside"  a  good  deal  that,  for  the  man's  good,  had  far 
better  have  been  left  on  the  shelves. 

But  not  only  would  these  "easy-goers"  get  rid  of  their 
money,  but  oftentimes  the  stuff  they  ate  would  make 
them  sick.  Indeed,  in  every  regiment  more  than  one 
death  could  primarily  be  attributed  to  certain  articles  in 
the  Sutler's  tent. 


Aunt  Tilda. 


(See  page  196) 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

SOME  EVENTS  IN  1864-5 — POLITICS  AND  WAR. 

"Statesman,  yet  friend  to  truth!  of  soul  sincere; 
In  action  faithful,  and  in  honor  clear." 

— POPE. 

LINCOLN'S  administration  of  affairs  from  the  time  of 
his  inauguration,  March  4,  1861,  till  the  spring  of  1864, 
when  a  Presidential  candidate  was  to  be  nominated,  had 
gradually  taken  a  very  popular  hold  on  the  masses. 
Some,  however,  were  dissatisfied,  thinking  the  President 
was  too  slow,  too  easy,  and  lacking  in  some  essential 
qualities  for  an  Executive.  Quite  a  number  of  these  held 
a  mass  convention  at  Cleveland,  O.,  May  31,  1864,  and 
nominated  General  John  C.  Fremont  for  President,  and 
styled  themselves  War  Democrats. 

The  friends  of  Lincoln  assembled  at  Baltimore,  Md., 
June  7,  1864,  in  a  regular  convention  and  unanimously 
renominated  the  people's  favorite. 

The  opponents  of  the  war  did  not  hold  their  conven- 
tion till  August  28,  at  which  time  General  McClellan  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency.  In  the  first  half  of  the 
year  the  prospects  for  immediate  Union  success  were  not 
assuring.  Grant  had  failed  to  take  Richmond,  and  was 
for  the  time,  at  least,  held  at  bay  by  Lee.  In  the  South- 
west General  Banks  had  met  disaster,  and  so  long  as 
Sherman  was  confronted  by  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
the  Confederates,  under  the  latter  officer,  continued  to 
make  the  greatest  possible  resistance  with  the  least  pos- 
sible loss. 

(201) 


202  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

But  very  soon  after  the  opponents  of  the  war  had  as- 
sembled in  convention,  and  by  resolutions  declared  the 
war  a  failure,  the  Union  forces  met  with  a  series  of  bril- 
liant successes.  Commodore  Farragut  secured  a  wonder- 
ful victory  over  the  Confederates  at  Mobile  Bay.  At- 
lanta was  captured  by  Sherman,  and  Sheridan  completely 
annihilated  the  hitherto  successful  Rebel  forces  of  the 
Shenandoah  Valley.  These  victories  added  immensely  to 
Lincoln's  chances  of!  success. 

Much  interest  was  felt  in  the  outcome  of  the  election 
among  the  soldiers.  The  various  platforms,  letters  of 
acceptance,  etc.,  were  read  and  discussed.  Most  of  the 
men,  however,  favored  Lincoln's  re-election.  As  soon  as 
General  Fremont  saw  that  his  candidacy  could  do  noth- 
ing save  divide  the  war  party,  he  promptly  withdrew 
his  name,  and  this  narrowed  the  race  down  to  a  contest 
between  Lincoln  and  McClellan. 

McClellan's  followers  were  called  "Peace  Men"  and  a 
"Peace  at  Any  Price  Party,"  while  those  who  supported 
the  war  maintained  that  durable  peace  could  come  only 
from  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war  till  the  last  enemy 
of  the  Government  laid  down  his  musket. 

Early  in  November  the  election  came  off  and  proper 
agents  came  to  our  division  camp  from  the  States  of  Iowa, 
Wisconsin  and  Ohio  to  take  the  votes  of  troops  from 
these  commonwealths.  But  the  Legislature  of  Illinois 
had  decreed  that  it  was  illegal  for  soldiers  to  vote  when 
in  the  field,  hence  Illinois  soldiers  were  denied  the  privi- 
lege of  casting  their  ballots.  I  had  just  passed  my 
twenty-first  birthday,  and  having  long  been  an  admirer 
of  Lincoln,  felt  great  disappointment  in  not  having  an 
opportunity  to  vote  for  him. 


Presidential  Election,  1864.  203 

Lincoln's  majority  over  McClellan  was  overwhelming 
and  gave  him  ten  times  as  many  votes  in  the  Electoral 
College  as  his  competitor  received. 

I  accompanied  the  command  upon  one  of  the  expedi- 
tions to  the  Atchafalaya,  spoken  of  in  the  last  chapter. 
The  twenty  odd  miles  traversed  was  through  a  country 
that  had  been  stripped  of  everything  in  the  way  of  eat- 
ables. The  banks  of  the  Atchafalaya  were  reached,  but 
the  stream  was  not  crossed.  A  few  stray  shots  passed 
between  the  Confederates  upon  one  side  of  the  stream 
and  the  Federals  upon  the  other.  Here  several  days 
were  spent,  and,  the  time  hanging  heavy,  a  rude  set  of 
chess  were  cut  out  of  wood  and  many  games  enjoyed. 

Among  the  forces  was  a  regiment  of  so-called  Mexi- 
can cavalry.  This  organization  had  been  made  up  next 
the  Mexican  frontier,  and  the  men  were  nearly  all  small 
in  stature  and  had  swarthy  complexions.  They  were 
expert  horsemen,  however,  and  could  throw  the  lasso 
with  much  skill. 

Toward  the  end  of  November  the  command  was 
moved  to  the  mouth  of  White  River,  much  further  up 
the  Mississippi.  Here  we  found  the  troops  that  had 
preceded  us  had  built  small  shacks  of  boards  they  had 
procured  somewhere  in  the  vicinity.  Some  of  these 
shacks  our  men  appropriated  and  others  they  built  out 
of  such  material  as  could  be  picked  up.  All  of  these 
were  covered  by  a  piece  of  heavy  duck  cloth  that  each 
man  carried  in  his  knapsack.  This  was  made  with  strong 
buttons  and  well-made  buttonholes  along  its  four  sides, 
and  was  in  dimensions  about  three  by  seven  feet.  Two 
of  these  pieces,  buttoned  together,  made  a  good  roof  for 
a  small  hut  or  shack  which,  by  reason  of  its  lack  of 
height  and  closeness  to  the  ground,  was  called  a  "dog- 


204  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

tent."  Upon  entering  one  of  these  tents  the  soldier  had 
always  to  do  so  on  his  kneesi,  and  keep  the  sitting  or 
horizontal  position  while  inside.  However,  these  "dog- 
tents"  that  came  in  use  the  second  year  of  the  war  served 
a  most  useful  purpose,  and  as  a  piece  of  it  was  always  in 
the  soldier's  knapsack,  it  never  failed  to  be  available 
when  most  needed. 

While  encamped  at  the  mouth  of  White  River  I  built 
a  shack  about  seven  feet  square,  covered  it  with  two 
pieces  of  "dog-tent,"  had  a  door  in  one  end  and  built  a 
chimney  made  of  clay  and  sticks  at  the  other.  The  clay 
I  made  into  a  kind  of  mortar  with  which  I  plastered  the 
sticks  that  were,  so  to  speak,  the  skeleton  of  my  chimney. 
When  completed  I  kept  a  cheerful  wood  fire  burning  in 
the  chimney,  which,  as  the  weather  was  quite  frosty,  was 
most  comfortable  and  enjoyable,  especially  of  evenings. 
When  tired  of  sitting,  the  height  of  my  shack  permitted 
me  to  stand  in  its  center  and,  in  a  sense,  stretch  myself 
out.  The  doorway  was  just  wide  enough  to  enter,  and 
at  its  one  side  was  my  cot,  upon  which  I  slept;  at  the 
other  our  medicine  chest,  a  table,  extemporized  from  a 
box,  and  two  camp  chairs.  Every  morning  the  bugler 
came  to  my  shack  door  and  sounded  the  sick  call  (see 
page  153),  and  following  this  came  the  surgeon  and 
such  men  as  were  complaining  from  one  or  another  cause. 

In  all  my  three  years  of  army  service  I  do  not  remem- 
ber to  have  been  more  pleasantly  "fixed-up"  than  in  this 
shack  at  the  mouth  of  White  River.  But,  alas!  hardly 
had  I  put  thje  cup  to  my  lips  when  it  was  dashed  to  the 
ground,  for  I  had  but  little  more  than  got  settled  in  my 
cosy  quarters  than  an  order  came  for  us  to  go  to  New 
Orleans. 


Consolidation  of  Regiments.  205 

Obeying  this,  I  left  my  comfortable  shack,  the  boys 
quit  theirs,  and  we  all  boarded  a  steamboat  and  were 
once  more  on  the  bosom  of  the  Mississippi,  up  and  down 
which  we  had  traveled  so  much  and  so  often — so  much, 
indeed,  that  during  our  three  years'  'service  the  Father  of 
Waters  came  to  be  our  most  frequented  highway. 

Arrived  at  New  Orleans  the  regiment  was  at  once 
ordered  to  Lake  Port,  a  city  suburb  and  situated  on  Lake 
Ponchartrain.  Here  we  found  quarters  in  unoccupied 
houses,  of  which  there  seemed  to  be  not  a  few  in  the 
suburb.  A  dilapidated  old  steam  railway  connected  Lake 
Port  with  New  Orleans.  The  engines,  or  locomotives, 
were  so  old  and  out  of  repair  that  they  often  refused  to 
start  when  steam  was  turned  on,  and  to  aid  in  this  the 
section  men  would  pry  under  the  driving  wheels  with 
crowbars.  This  road  between  Lake  Port  and  New  Or- 
leans was  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  first  constructed 
railways  in  the  United  States. 

So  many  regiments  had  been  reduced  to  mere  skeletons 
that  it  was  decided  to  make  a  larger  organization  by  con- 
solidating two  or  more  into  one.  In  February,  1865,  an 
order  came  to  consolidate  our  regiment,  the  130th  Illinois 
Infantry,  with  the  77th  Illinois  Infantry. 

Like  all  organizations  that  had  been  long  in  the  service 
both  of  the  above-named  regiments  had  lost  many  men. 
The  largest  number  died  from  disease,  not  a  few  were 
killed  in  battle  and  a  good  many  had  been  discharged 
because  of  wounds  or  sickness,  which  rendered  them  unfit 
for  further  service. 

The  order  directing  the  consolidation  of  the  77th  and 
130th  regiments  required  all  supernumerary  commis- 
sioned officers  to  be  mustered  out  of  the  service ;  and  all 
supernumerary  non-commissioned  officers  who  were 


206  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

created  non-commissioned  officers  at  the  time  of  the 
organization  of  their  respective  commands  to  be  likewise 
mustered  out  of  the  service.  But  all  non-commissioned 
officers  who  had  been  made  such  since  the  organization 
of  their  regiments  and  were  found  supernumerary,  should 
be  reduced  to  the  ranks.  To  say  the  least,  this  order  was 
very  unjust.  For,  as  a  very  general  rule  the  soldier  who 
was  promoted  after  entering  the  service,  received  this 
advance  because  he  merited  it.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
officer  who  was  made  such  at  the  beginning  had  yet  to 
prove  his  fitness  for  the  place  he  occupied. 

As  I  had  gone  out  a  private  with  a  gun  in  my  hands 
and  had  later  been  promoted  to  hospital  steward;  and, 
furthermore,  as  the!  hospital  steward  of  the  77th  Illinois, 
was  such  at  the  organization  of  his  regiment  and  as,  in 
addition,  he  elected  to  remain  in  the  service,  I  was  de- 
clared supernumerary,  and  consequently  there  was  noth- 
ing for  me  but  to  remove  the  chevrons  from  my  coat 
sleeves,  lay  aside  my  spatula,  pick  up  my  musket  for  the 
second  time  and  resume  my  place  in  the  ranks  as  a 
private  soldier. 

That  this  was  humiliating  to  a  proud,  spirited,  am- 
bitious boy,  goes  without  the  saying.  However,  I  ac- 
cepted the  situation  as  cheerfully  as  possible  and, 
meantime,  resolved  to  meet  every  situation  manfully  and 
discharge  every  duty  conscientiously. 

The  consolidated  organization,  now  known  as  the  77th 
Illinois  Infantry,  was  a  thousand  strong,  and  was  put  on 
patrol  duty  in  New  Orleans.  We  had  our  quarters  in  a 
New  Orleans  cotton  press,  and  had  opportunity  to  make 
ourselves  quite  comfortable.  At  4  o'clock,  every  after- 
noon, we  went  to  an  open  space  without  the  cotton  press 
for  dress  parade.  And  on  this  every  man  was  required 


A  Thousand  Veterans.  207 

to  appear  with  shoes  well  blacked,  clothes  neatly  brushed, 
hair  well  combed,  a  white  paper  collar  and  stock  on  the 
neck,  all  metal  appendages,  as  cartridge  box,  belt,  etc., 
polished  and  burnished  like  gold  and  silver,  the  gun  well 
cleaned  and  its  metal  parts  bright  and  glistening, 

With  this  "getting-up,"  with  white  gloves  on  every 
man's  hands,  with  everyone  in  his  place  and  soldierly  in 
bearing,  and  with  every  movement  rhythmical  and  ac- 
curate as  clock-work,  a  thousand  men  on  dress  parade 
made  a  pleasing  and  enjoyable  display,  and  never  failed 
to  attract  many  visitors1  and  onlookers. 

As  elsewhere  noted,  we  were  first  armed  with  Austrian 
^rifled  muskets,  made  in  Austria,  but  these  proving  unsat- 
isfactory we  were  later  supplied  with  Enfield  muskets 
of  English  manufacture;  and  finally  these  were  discarded 
for  the  Springfield  musket,  made  in  Springfield,  Mass., 
which,  like  its  predecessors,  was  a  muzzle-loader  and 
single-shooter,  but  a  superior  weapon  in  every  way.  The 
Springfield  musket  (made  in  America),  eventually  super- 
seded all  other  firearms  in  infantry  regiments;  and,  by 
reason  of  its  efficiency,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
one  million  Union  veterans,  armed  with  this  weapon, 
were  a  paramount  factor  in  finally  putting  down  "The 
Great  Rebellion  of  1861-5."  In  making  this  statement 
the  author  means  no  reflection  upon  the  several  other 
arms  of  the  military  service,  each  of  which  fought 
valiantly,  and  made  every  needed  sacrifice  to  uphold  and 
sustain  the  Union. 

In  the  new  organization  I  was  assigned  to  Company  G, 
commanded  by  Captain  Rouse,  an  exceptionally  fine 
young  officer,  who  took  great  pride  in  drilling  and  dis- 
ciplining his  company.  We  practiced  the  Zouave  drill 
frequently,  and  finally,  on  account  of  the  high  stand- 


208  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

ing  of  Captain  Rouse  and  his  company,  we  were  chosen 
as  headquarters'  guard  for  the  Commander  of  the  Divi- 
sion, General  Benton.  This  'service  lightened  our  duties 
in  some  particulars  and  gave  us  certain  privileges  besides. 

Our  Division  Commander,  General  Benton,  was  a  fat, 
shapeless  man,  who  ill  became  his  uniform  and  official 
regalia,  and  from  what  we  saw  and  heard  we  came  to 
realize  that  he  liked  and  drank  a  good  deal  of  whiskey. 
However,  he  was  good  to  his  men,  was  liked  by  them, 
and  never  asked  a  man  to  incur  a  danger  that  he  him- 
self was  not  ready  and  willing  to  face. 

While  a  private  soldier  in  Company  G,  77th  Illinois, 
I  had  for  a  messmate  and  close  friend  Samuel  Henry, 
130th  Illinois  Infantry,  several  years  my  senior,  and  who 
had  the  following  unique  history : 

Some  years  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War 
he,  with  other  members  of  his  father's  family,  emigrated 
to  the  then  new  State  of  Texas  for  the  general  purpose 
of  farming  and  sheep-raising.  In  the  spring  of  1861  the 
war  came  on,  and  every  man  of  fit  physical  condition  and 
suitable  age  was  expected  to  enlist  in  the  Confederate 
service. 

Young  Henry  was  of  northern  birth  and  ancestry,  and 
was,  moreover,  a  pronounced  Union  man.  However,  he 
was  "wise  in  his  generation,"  and  consequently  kept  his 
own  counsel,  but,  meantime,  did  a  great  deal  of  listening 
and  no  little  thinking.  Finally,  after  most  of  his  friends 
and  associates  had  volunteered  he  realized  that  the  time 
had  come  for  action  and  the  carrying  out  of  the  plans  he 
had  in  mind,  namely,  making  an  effort  to  get  inside  the 
Union  lines  and  ultimately  joining  his  friends  and  rela- 
tives in  Illinois.  Accordingly,  putting  on  a  new  suit  of 
jeans,  filling  his  saddle-bags  with  a  change  of  linen  and 


A  Shrewd  "Yankee."  209 

needed  supplies,  and  slipping  a  loaded  revolver  in  his 
pocket,  young  Henry  one  day  mounted  his  "mustang"  and 
rode  away  with  the  seeming  intent  of  joining  Somebody's 
Texas  Rangers. 

Riding  in  a  general  northerly  direction  and  by  the  use 
of  much  tact  and  general  adroitness  he  managed  to  meet 
and  "get  by"  several  Confederate  commands,  and  keep- 
ing on  his  way  toward  the  North  Star  at  last  found  him- 
self within  the  Union  lines,  and  the  rest  of  the  route  was 
comparatively  easy,  up  through  Arkansas  and  Missouri, 
across  the  Mississippi  into  Illinois,  and  finally  across  the 
thresholds  of  friends  and  relatives  in  Bond  County. 

In  August,  1862,  he  (Samuel  Henry)  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany E,  130th  Illinois  Infantry  Volunteers,  and  when  in 
February,  1865,  this  regiment  was  consolidated  with  the 
77th  Illinois,  he  became  a  member  of  Company  G  in  that 
organization,  as  noted  above,  and  my  esteemed  messmate 
and  valued  friend.  He  is  now  almost  an  octogenarian, 
and  is  living  in  comfortable  retirement  at  Greenville,  111., 
a  good  citizen,  respected  by  all  who  know  him. 

While  in  and  about  New  Orleans  during  the  winter  of 
1864-5,  we  read  and  talked  much  about  General  Thomas's 
great  victories  at  Franklin  and  Nashville,  Tenn. ;  and, 
likewise,  of  Sherman's  daring  march  from  Atlanta  east 
into  the  interior  of  Georgia,  since  familiarly  referred  to 
as  "The  March  to  the  Sea."  Much  speculation  was  in- 
dulged in  relative  to,  and  no  little  anxiety  was  felt  for, 
the  outcome  of  Sherman's  great  and  apparently  haz- 
ardous, undertaking,  After  reaching  the  seaboard  and 
capturing  Savannah,  Sherman  thus  demonstrated  the 
Southern  Confederacy  to  be  what  he  had  already  termed 
it,  namely,  "An  empty  shell." 

14 


210  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Meanwhile,  Hood's  army,  having1  practically  annihi- 
lated itself  in  its  several  attacks  on  General  Thomas, 
there  seemed  little  effective  force  left  to  the  enemy  save 
what  was  under  General  Lee  at  Richmond  and  Peters- 
burg. 

However,  Mobile,  Ala.,  was  strongly  fortified  and  yet 
esteemed  an  important  asset  to  the  Southerners,  and 
early  in  March  an  expedition  was  organized  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Gulf  to  move  against  and,  if  possible, 
capture  this  stronghold,  one  of  the  last  of  the  Confed- 
eracy, which  almost  precisely  four  years  before  in  this 
same  State  of  Alabama,  was  with  high  hopes  and  flying 
colors  launched  on  its  stormy  career. 

As  an  integral  part  of  the  Army  of  the  Gulf,  now 
commanded  by  General  E.  R.  S.  Canby,  our  superb  regi- 
ment of  a  thousand  veterans,  was  ordered  to  bear  a  part 
in  the  contemplated  attack  on  Mobile.  Obeying  these 
orders,  early  one  morning  in  March,  we  began  making 
preparations  for  embarking  on  a  vessel  at  the  New  Or- 
leans Levee,  and  about  3  P.M.  we  were  aboard. 

We  were  all  very  tired,  and  as  yet  had  not  eaten  our 
dinners.  Our  meat  rations,  for  convenience,  were  that 
day  dried  herring,  and  of  this  I  ate  very  heartily.  As 
night  approached  the  vessel  moved  away  from  the  wharf 
and  headed  down  stream.  Meanwhile,  we  unrolled  our 
blankets,  and  upon  these  stretched  our  tired,  weary  limbs ; 
in  a  little  while  all  were  sleeping  soundly.  The  next 
morning  we  struck  the  salt  water  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  the  vessel  began '  to  pitch  and  roll.  And  soon 
how  seasick  we  all  come  to  be!  And  that  we  "heaved 
Jonah"  and  gave  back  to  the  sea  those  precious  herring 
that  we  had  eaten  of  so  heartily  goes  without  the 
saying.  And  how  long  afterwards  did  the  taste  and 


Herring  and  Seasickness.  211 

flavor  of  those  little  stomach-disturbers  remain  with  us! 
And  who  of  us  that  ate  herring  on  that  March  day,  more 
than  a  half  century  in  the  past,  has  ever  had  the  hardi- 
hood to  so  much  as  taste  one  since ! 

The  gulf  was  very  rough,  and  as  said  before,  the  vessel 
rolled  and  pitched  violently.  To  my  way  of  thinking 
nothing  is  less  attractive  than  salt  water  travel,  and  the 
grandeur,  beauty  and  poetry  of  old  ocean  is  in  very  large 
measure  lost  on  me. 

Two  or  three  days  after  leaving  the  wharf  at  New 
Orleans  land  was  dimly  sighted,  certain  objects  were 
indistinctly  seen,  First  a  mound,  that  proved  to  be  a 
fort,  then  a  flag  on  a  pole,  next  tents,  a  camp,  wagons, 
horses,  and,  lastly,  men.  And  finally,  we  anchored  at 
Fort  Morgan,  situated  on  Mobile  Point,  Ala, 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  MOBILE  CAMPAIGN — 1865. 

"The  arms  are  fair, 
When  the  intent  for  bearing  them  is  just." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

FORT  MORGAN,  situated  on  Mobile  Point,  guarded  the 
narrow  entrance  to  Mobile  Bay.  Directly  opposite,  two 
miles  distant  in  a  northerly  direction,  Fort  Gaines,  upon 
Dauphin  Island,  with  frowning  guns,  assisted  in  this  duty. 
The  main  channel,  however,  was  near  Fort  Morgan,  and 
was  obstructed  to  hostile  vessels  with  piles  driven  in  the 
sand  and  torpedoes  planted  plentifully  in  the  waters. 

Early  in  August,  1864,  Admiral  Farragut,  with  four- 
teen wooden  vessels  and  four  iron-dads,  resolved  to  at- 
tack the  Confederates.  Near  Fort  Morgan  the  latter  had 
a  small  fleet  under  Commodore  Franklin  Buchanan.  In 
the  Confederate  fleet  was  a  powerful  vessel,  the  ram 
Tennessee.  The  5th  of  August  General  Granger  landed 
a  body  of  troops  on  Dauphin  Island  and  invested  Fort 
Gaines. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  August  6,  Admiral  Farragut 
attacked  Fort  Morgan  and  the  Confederate  flotilla.  Soon 
after  the  engagement  began,  the  Tecumseh,  a  fine  iron- 
clad, struck  a  torpedo  and  almost  instantly  sunk,  carry- 
ing to  the1  bottom  of  the  bay  all  but  twenty-one  out  of  a 
crew  of  one  hundred  men.  The  other  vessels  of  the 
Federal  fleet  kept  right  on,  however,  and  ran  past  Fort 
Morgan  and  the  torpedoes.  A  little  later  the  ram  Ten- 
nessee bore  down  upon  the  fleet,  but  was  soon  over- 
powered and  captured. 
(212) 


We  Land  at  Fort  Morgan.  213 

August  7  Fort  Gaines,  with  over  eight  hundred  men, 
surrendered  to  General  Granger.  Later  Fort  Morgan 
was  invested,  and  August  23,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Federals.  Thus  Mobile,  at  the?  head  of  Mobile  Bay,  was 
effectually  shut  off  from  blockade  runners,  by  having  its 
outlet  hermetically  sealed  by  a  fleet  of  Federal  vessels. 

At  Fort  Morgan  our  regiment  landed  early  in  March, 
as  narrated  in  the  last  chapter.  The  men  debarked  from 
the  steamer  and  went  into  camp  in  the  sand.  The  region 
was  sterile  and  as  uninteresting  as  could  be  imagined. 
Fort  Morgan,  however,  had  gained  much  notoriety  from 
its  engagement  with  Commodore  Farragut's  fleet  the 
previous  August.  It  showed  marks  of  the  bombardment 
in  dismantled1  walls  and  broken  brick  work. 

Near  the  camp  was  a  sand  hill,  twenty  or  thirty  feet 
high,  from  which  the  vessels  at  a  distance  and  Dauphin 
Island  were  viewed.  A  school  of  porpoises  could  often 
be  seen  at  play  in  the  waters  of  the  bay ;  this,  to  the  men, 
nearly  all  of  whom  were  from  the  interior,  was  a  novel 
sight. 

One  day  orders  came  to  march.  Meanwhile  the  Thir- 
teenth Corps  had  been  reorganized  and  was  now  under 
command  of  General  Gordon  Granger.  This  reorganiza- 
tion was  especially  pleasing  to  the  old  members  of  the 
Thirteenth  Corps. 

On  March  17,  early  in  the  morning,  we  started  from 
Fort  Morgan,  having  Mobile  as  our  objective  point.  As 
will  be  recalled  Fort  Morgan  was  not  far  from  the  ex- 
tremity of  Mobile  Point,  and  our  route  led  along  the 
southern  and  eastern  limits  of  Mobile  Bay.  The  whole 
region  was  a  sandy  waste,  and  the  only  thing  it  would 
grow  was  a  species  of  yellow  pine.  Walking  in  sand 
half  shoe-mouth  deep  is  hard  at  best,  but  to  one  like 


214  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

myself,  who  for  many  months  had  been  doing  lighter 
duties,  marching  with  a  knapsack,  gun,  accoutrements  and 
other  etc.,  was  especially  hard  on  me,  unseasoned  as  I 
was.  The  result  was  that,  in  the  afternoon,  I  was  nearly 
exhausted  and  fagged  out,  but  I  kept  all  to  myself  and 
secretly  resolved  to  keep  going  till  I  fell  in  my  tracks,  if 
the  worst  came  to  the  worst.  At  last  the  day's  march 
ended  and  we  went  into  camp,  and  I  experienced  inex- 
pressible relief  when  I  had  stacked  my  gun  and  taken  off 
my  knapsack  and  accoutrements.  I  ate  heartily  of  the 
toasted  bacon,  "sow-belly,"  the  boys  called  it,  and  "hard- 
tack," a  name  they  had  bestowed  on  our  army  hard 
crackers ;  and,  in  addition,  drank  freely  of  strong1  coffee, 
and  felt  much  refreshed.  My  feet  were  sore  and  tender, 
and  filling  my  canteen  with  cold  water  I  poured  this  on 
my  feet  freely,  rubbed  and  bathed  them  the  best  I  couldi 
and  then  rolled  up  in  my  blanket  and  slept. 

Early  next  morning  when  we  were  awakened  I  found 
I  was  all  over  sore  and  stiff,  but  there  was  nothing  to  do 
but  undertake  and,  if  possible,  go  through  with  another 
day's  duties.  I  told  no  one  of  my  feelings,  and  after 
marching  awhile  my  soreness  and  stiffness,  in  part,  was 
relieved,  but  in  the  afternoon  I  was  again  very  much 
fatigued,  and  once  or  twice  it  seemed  as  though  I  could 
not  go  any  further;  but  further  I  went,  and  further  I 
kept  on  going,  till  we  went  into  camp  at  the  end  of  the 
second  day's  march,  and  like  the  evening  before,  I  was 
inexpressibly  relieved  when  I  had  the  much  appreciated 
privilege  of  laying  down  my  gun  and  unstrapping  my 
knapsack  and  accoutrements.  The  next  day  I  managed 
to  worry  through  a  little  easier.  The  next  was  easier 
still,  and  finally  I  came  to  be  so  inured  to  marching  with 
a  soldier's  complete  outfit  that  I  could  stand  up  by,  and- 


A  "Tenderfoot"  Keeps  at  It.  215 

go  as  far  and  as  fast  as  the  best  of  them.  But,  as  was 
said  above,  no  one  was  ever  the  wiser  by  reason  of  know- 
ing of  my  experience  while  literally  a  "tenderfoot"  and 
when  going  through  the  needed  "seasoning"  process. 

We  made  magnificent  camp  fires  with  the  pine  knots 
that  abounded  everywhere,  and  as  a  result  of  burning 
this  kind  of  fuel  our  faces  were  covered  with  smut, 
smoke  and  grime,  all  of  which  was  made  adherent  by  the 
resin  inherent  in  yellow  pine,  and  in  consequence  wash- 
ing one's  face  and  hands  came  to  be  a  most  strenuous 
undertaking. 

As  we  passed  through  the  continuous  pine  forests  we 
came  upon  what  are  known  as  "turpentine  orchards." 
Cup-shaped  notches  had  been  chopped  in  the  trunks  of 
the  larger  trees  and  these  had  been  filled  with  resin.  One 
night  someone  set  fire  to  one  resin-filled  excavation  and 
the  flames  extended  to  others  all  about,  and  soon  a  great 
fire  enveloped  the  forest  all  about,  and  which  we  left  in 
our  rear  as  we  marched  to  a  camp  further  on  and  well 
out  of  the  burning  area. 

Not  long  after  reaching  soil  in  which  sand  was  not 
the  principal1  ingredient,  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and  in 
consequence  the  roads  became  almost  impassable  for 
wagons  and  artillery.  In  some  instances  when  the  teams 
stalled  they  were  temporarily  detached,  long  ropes  at- 
tached to  the  wagons  and  pieces  of  artillery,  and  upon 
these  scores  of  strong  men  exerted  their  full  strength, 
and  often  succeeded  when  the  mules,  which  had  preceded 
them,  had  failed.  But  in  many  places  "corduroy"  roads 
had  to  be  made.  A  "corduroy"  road  is  made  by  putting 
down  many  poles,  side  by  side,  and  as  close  together  as 
they  can  be  placed. 


216  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

In  extricating  the  mired  wagons  and  stalled  pieces  of 
artillery  no  one  worked  harder  than  General  Benton.  He 
pulled  off  his  coat,  rolled  up  his  sleeves  and  helped  "with 
might  and  main."  Seeing  their  Division  Commander 
thus  employed,  the  boys  greeted  him  with  rousing  cheers 
and  were  more  than  ever  determined  to  meet  manfully 
all  obstacles  and  overcome  them  if  possible. 

One  day  a  wide,  shallow  stream  was  encountered,  when 
the  men  were  halted,  ordered  to  remove  shoes  and  stock- 
ings, roll  their  pants  high  and  wade.  When  the  opposite 
bank  was  reached  every  man  dried  his  feet  and  legs  in 
the  best  way  possible,  put  on  his  shoes  and  stockings,  and 
resumed  the  march. 

The  advance  of  the  column,  after  some  days'  progress, 
met  and  skirmished  with  the  enemy.  Toward  the  latter 
part  of  the  month  of  March,  Spanish  Fort,  east  of 
Mobile,  was  reached.  This  was  one  of  the  keys  to  the 
military  situation  at  Mobile,  and  was  laid  siege  to  by  the 
Federals  the  last  days  of  March.  The  Federal  gunboats 
held  the  water  front  of  Spanish  Fort  and  cut  off  com- 
munication with  Mobile.  No  effort  at  assault  was  made 
by  the  Federals,  and  the  approaches  were  guarded  with 
rifle  pits ;  hence,  the  loss  of  life  was  inconsiderable. 

The  night  of  April  8  Spanish  Fort  was  evacuated.  In 
a  Mobile  paper  of  that  same  date  was  found  the  follow- 
ing letter  entitled: 

"A  LETTER  UNDER  FIRE. 

"ON  PICKET,  SPANISH  FORT,  APRIL  4,  1865. 
"MESSRS.  EDITORS  : — With  powder-burned  face  and  a  sore 
shoulder  from  the  backward  movement  of  my  rifle,  I  have  con- 
cluded to  rest  a  little,  and  while  resting  I  will  amuse  myself  by 
dropping  you  a  line.  But,  stop  right  here,  I  will  take  a  chew 
of  tobacco,  for  I  have  plenty  and  of  the  finest  article,  and  I  did 


Confederate  Letter  "Under  Fire."       217 

not  buy  it,  nor  steal  it,  nor  draw  it,  but  I  have  it.  We  are 
having  a  fine  time  here  sharp-shooting  with  the  Yankees,  though 
we  never  put  our  heads  above  the  breastworks,  for  the  atmos- 
phere is  unhealthy  too  high  up,  but  we  have  headlogs  to  shoot 
under  which  the  boys  call  "skull-crackers."  We  have  another 
game  we  play  over  here ;  it  is  a  game  I  used  to  play  when  a  boy, 
but  there  is  not  altogether  so  much  fun  in  it  now  as  there  was 
then.  It  is  a  game  called  'Andy  Over.'  We  play  it  here  with 
shells  from  a  mortar  gun.  The  one  that  catches  it  is  the  one 
that  is  caught  out  and  not  the  one  that  throws  it. 

"We  have  generally  about  two  artillery  duels  each  day,  and 
they  make  things  happen  when  they  do  get  at  it.  Everything 
is  comparatively  quiet  at  night. 

"Ten  thousand  thanks  to  the  ladies  of  Mobile  for  sending  us 
that  provision  they  sent  us  last  night.  I  think  I  was  the 
hungriest  man  on  the  'map.'  You  ought  to  have  seen  with  what 
eagerness  I  devoured  those  eggs,  meat  and  cake.  While  eating, 
my  heart  ran  out  in  thankfulness  to  the  fair  daughters  of  the 
fair  city.  I  was  proud  that  I  was  a  soldier  battling  for  the  rights 
of  such  ladies  as  those. 

"I  shall  have  to  close.  The  shells  are  coming  too  fast  and  my 
mind  is  too  much  centered  on  'Number  One,'  and  my  nerves  too 
unsteady  to  write.  You  know  that  bomb-shells  are  very  de- 
moralizing, if  they  'are  not  so  dangerous. 

"More  anon. 

"CHUM." 

From  the  same  paper's  editorial  column  the  following 
is  taken:  , 

"THE  ENEMY. 

"From  about  five  o'clock  till  after  dark  last  evening  the  firing 
on  the  eastern  shore  was  the  heaviest  yet  heard,  and  it  still  con- 
tinues, though  somewhat  slackened  at  our  usual  time  of  closing, 
though  we  are  yet  without  any  information  of  the  progress  of 
affairs. 

"Later.  After  11  o'clock  a  dispatch  was  received,  stating  that 
the  enemy  had  opened  fire  on  Spanish  Fort  with  thirty  guns,  but 
after  a  great  deal  of  noise,  had  made  no  impression.  Our  gar- 
rison over  there  stands  like  a  'stone  wall.' 


218  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

"The  Yankee's  ammunition  is  bad,  of  the  shoddy-contract  sort, 
so  that  very  few  of  the  shells  explode.  Our  artillerists  use  only 
Confederate  powder  to  send  back  their  own  projectiles. 

"While  we  write  at  10  o'clock  P.M.,  an  occasional  gun  is  heard." 

From  the  same  column  the  following  is  also  excerpted : 
"BRAVE  BOYS. 

"The  following  letter  received  by  Major  General  Maury 
from  a  student  at  Spring  Hill  College  cannot  be  read 
with  indifference  by  friend  or  foe  of  the  cause  of  Con- 
federate independence.  This  is  what  General  Grant 
would  call  'robbing  the  cradle  to  recruit  our  armies:' 

"SPRINGHILL  COLLEGE,  MARCH  27,  1865. 
"MAj.  GEN.  D.  H.  MAURY, 

"DEAR  SIR: — At  the  request  of  a  great  many  of  my  fellow 
students,  I  write  to  you  on  a  very  serious  subject — that  is  about 
joining  the  army  for  the  defense  of  Mobile. 

"The  President  will  not  let  us  go  without  we  consider  ourselves 
expelled;  so  we  wish  you  to  send  out  one  of  your  aids  and  mus- 
ter us  in  the  service. 

"There  will  be  about  forty  that  will  go.  We  are  all  of1  age, 
strong  and  healthy  and  can  fight  as  good  as  any  man.  Now, 
General,  we  want  your  assistance ;  if  we  do  not  receive  it  soon 
we  will  be  compelled  to  go  and  be  expelled.  So  we  do  not  think 
you  could  help  from  assisting  us. 

"Please  help  us  immediately. 

"A  STUDENT  OF  SPRINGHILL  COLLEGE." 

At  the  time  the  Thirteenth  Army  Corps  was  advancing 
up  the  eastern  shore  of  Mobile  Bay — joined  by  the  Six- 
teenth Corps  at  the  mouth  of  Fish  River — to  engage  in 
the  investment  and  siege  of  Spanish  Fort,  a  co-operating 
column,  led  by  General  Francis  Steele,  moved  from  Pen- 
sacola,  Fla.,  and  attacked  Fort  Blakely,  ten  miles  north- 
east of  Mobile,  on  the  Tensaw  River. 


A  Never-to-be-forgotten  Sunday.        219 

As  soon  as  Spanish  Fort  fell  into  our  hands  the  troops 
engaged  in  the  investment  of  this  place  were  ordered  to 
Blakely,  about  ten  miles  northeast  and  to  the  right.  The 
march  was  begun  near  noon  of  April  9.  About  half  the 
distance  had  been  accomplished  when  a  terrific  cannonade 
and  musketry  fire  was  heard  at  the  front.  Under  the 
inspiration  of  this  sound  the  column  moved  faster,  but 
by  and  by  the  firing  ceased,  and  word  came  back  that 
Blakely  had  been  carried  by  assault. 

This  was  a  sultry  Sabbath  afternoon,  and  the  very  day 
that  Lee  surrendered  at  Appomattox,  April  9,  1865, 
though  the  latter  event  was  not  known  to  the  Union 
forces  about  Mobile  till  some  days  later. 

Toward  night  the  command  went  into  camp  near 
Blakely,  in  a  grove  of  pine  trees.  Early  next  morning 
the  scene  of  the  previous  day's  battle  was  visited.  At 
both  Spanish  Fort  and  Blakely  the  Confederates  had 
planted  torpedoes  about  the  approaches  to  their  works. 
Working  parties  were  removing  these,  as  their  location 
was  pointed  out  by  Confederate  prisoners. 

It  was  said  that  several  of  our  men,  the  day  previous, 
had  trodden  upon  these  terrible  instruments  of  death  and 
were,  blown  to  atoms.  In  most  instances  percussion 
shells  were  placed  just  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
ground  in  such  a  manner  that  the  tread  of  an  unwary 
foot  would  cause  instant  explosion.  For  a  half  mile  or 
more  the  timber  about  Blakely  had  been  felled,  with  the 
tops  of  the  trees  pointing  from  the  works,  and  with  their 
sharpened  extremities  the  branches  stood  ready  to  greatly 
impede  the  advance  of  an  attacking  force.  But  through 
these  and  amidst  a  shower  of  shot,  shell,  canister  and 
bullets,  the  Federals  made  their  way  to  and  over  the  Con- 
federate works. 


220  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  principal  part  of  the  assault  had  been  borne  by  a 
division  of  colored  troops  belonging  to  General  Steele's 
command.  These  men,  it  was  reported  on  every  hand, 
bore  themselves  most  gallantly. 

Passing  into  Blakely  early  on  the  morning  of  April  10, 
it  having  been  surrendered  at  5  P.M.  the  day  previous,  an 
opportunity  was  given  to  see  things  pretty  much  as  the 
Confederates  had  left  them,  One  thing  that  interested 
me  greatly  was  some  captured  haversacks  containing 
"Johnny's"  rations.  The  meat  was  such  as  our  men 
would  never  have  tasted  unless  reduced  to  the  verge  of 
starvation,  and  the  bread  seemed  indescribably  poor,  and 
of  such  character  as  a  Northern  farmer  would  hardly 
feed  to  his  hogs.  It  seemed  to  have  been  made  from 
meal  of  which  more  than  half  was  bran,  and  after  being 
made  into  small  pones — "dodgers" — had  been  apparently 
cooked  in  the  ashes  and  given  about  the  appearance  that 
two  or  three  days'  sun-drying  would  bestow.  That  men 
would  consent  to  live  on  such  food,  and  with  scarcely 
any  pay,  daily  encounter  the  vicissitudes  of  army  life, 
and,  when  occasion  called,  cheerfully  risk  their  lives  in 
battle,  is  a  high  tribute  to  Southern  hardihood,  pluck  and 
courage. 

Most  of  the  dead  of  both  armies  had  already  been  dis- 
posed of,  but  the  body  of  one  man  is  especially  remem- 
bered. He  was  a  Texan  captain,  tall  and  slender  in  per- 
son, with  long  black  hair  and  whiskers.  His  clothing 
was  much  better  than  that  worn  by  most  persons  in  the 
Confederate  army,  and  it  is  remembered  that  he  had  on 
his  feet  neat,  clean  cotton  socks  that  seemed  to  be 
similar  to  what  were  known  as  "British  hose."  The 
probability  is  that  the  clothes  he  had  on  were  nearly  all 
of  British  manufacture,  and  had  been  secured  when 


Brave,  But  a  Needless  Sacrifice.        221 

Mobile  was  a  favorite  port  with  blockade-runners. 
Drawn  over  the  Texan's  face  was  a  white,  broad- 
brimmed  slouch  hat,  so  that  his  form,  features  and  dress 
gave  evidence  of  the  typical  Southerner  of  the  better  and 
wealthier  class. 

Already  there  had  begun  to  gather  about  the  dead 
Texan  a  romantic  history  of  the  way  he  met  death,  and 
all  the  forenoon  there  was  clustered  around  him  a  group 
of  Federal  soldiers,  reciting  and  hearing  recited  the  fol- 
lowing : 

When  the  Federals  entered  the  works  the  evening 
previous  all  the  Confederates  gave  themselves  up  as  pris- 
oners of  war — all  but  the  Texas  captain,  who  refused  to 
surrender  under  any  circumstances,  and  when  importuned 
by  the  Federals  said:  "No,  sir;  surrender's  not  my 
name,"  and  "showed  fight,"  as  they  used  to  say  in  army 
circles. 

Whether  his  efforts  at  resistance  were  such  as  merited 
death,  or  whether  in  the  excitement  of  battle  and  tri- 
umph, his  life  was  taken  in  mere  wantonness,  is  not 
known ;  at  any  rate,  just  above  one  ear  was  a  great  bullet 
hole,  and  after  Lee  had  signed  the  papers  surrendering 
the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  to  General  Grant,  one 
more  name  was  added  to  a  terrible  death-roll  already 
frightfully  long.  The  writer  listened  to  the  recital  of  the 
dead  Texan's  story  from  the  lips  of  a  soldier  standing 
by,  who,  when  he  finished,  added,  pointing  to  another 
soldier  standing  a  little  to  one  side:  "There  is  the  man 
that  shot  him."  The  man  pointed  out  was  as  meek  and 
innocent  appearing  as  can  be  imagined,  and  with  down- 
cast eyes  admitted  firing  the  fatal  shot,  and  confirmed 
the  story  as  narrated. 


222  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  Texan  was  the  last  dead  Confederate  seen  upon 
a  battlefield  by  me.  The  first  was  seen  two  years  before 
on  the  battlefield  of  Port  Gibson  in  the  Vicksburg  cam- 
paign. He,  like  the  Texan,  was  tall  and  spare,  and  thus 
far  seemed  a  typical  Southerner,  but  he  was  attired  in 
the  coarsest  of  the  crude  dress  of  the  Southern  army,  and 
nothing  about  him  gave  any  evidence  of  wealth  or  re- 
finement. But  both  lay  where  they  fell  on  a  field  of 
battle  taken  possession  of  by  the  enemy,  and  their  lifeless 
bodies  were  viewed  by  many  of  the  then  detested  Yan- 
kees. Both  gave  their  lives  in  a  hopeless  cause,  and 
both  would  have  seemed  to  have  died  in  vain — but,  as  to 
the  latter,  maybe  not;  and,  just  as  there  are  some  poisons 
that  nothing  short  of  fire  and  furnace  heat  will  destroy, 
so  with  the  hates  and  passions  engendered  by  slavery  and 
secession — nothing  save  battle,  blood  and  death  could 
wipe  them  out. 

Much  praise  was  bestowed  upon  the  colored  division 
who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  assault  the  day  previous.  The 
afternoon  of  April  10  I  visited  the  colored  troops  and 
conversed  with  some  of  them.  They  were  very  proud  of 
their  achievement,  and  seemed  ready  to  fight  the  whole 
Southern/  Confederacy  if  the  opportunity  was  only  given 
them. 

One  fellow  was  seen  with  a  bullet  hole  through  one 
cheek,  but  no  trace  of  the  bullet  could  be  seen  elsewhere. 

I  asked  of  the  sufferer  how  he  could  be  affected  in 
this  way;  a  bullet  hole  through  one  cheek,  but  no  teeth 
knocked  out,  and  no  wound  elsewhere  about  the  face. 

"Day  ball  come  in  at  my  mouf,  sah,"  said  Sambo. 

"But  how  did  it  get  through  your  mouth  without  in- 
juring1 your  teeth  and  lips?"  was  asked. 

"I  had  my  mouf  op'n,"  was  answered. 


Sambo's  Mouth  Was  Open.  223 

"Why  did  you  have  it  open  ?"  was  further  asked. 

"O,  I  was  jist  hollerin'  Fort  Filler  at  um,"  said  Sambo. 

This,  it  seemed,  was  their  battle-cry,  and  was  the 
means  of  saving  this  darkey  from  a  great  deal  an  uglier 
and  more  serious  wound. 

Fort  Pillow,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  the  scene  of 
an  indiscriminate  massacre  of  colored  troops  by  General 
Forrest  in  the  spring  of  1864. 

A  little  while  before  the  war  closed  the  Southerners 
tried  to  enlist  negroes  in  their  armies,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose a  bill  was  passed  by  the  Confederate  Congress  at 
Richmond.  A  copy  of  this  in  a  Confederate  paper  is 
now  in  my  possession,  and  some  of  its  provisions  are 
interesting. 

The  first  clause  provides :  "That  in  order  to  provide 
additional  forces  to  repel  invasion,  maintain  the  rightful 
possessions  of  the  Confederate  States,  secure  their  inde- 
pendence and  preserve  their  institutions,  the  President 
be  and  is  hereby  authorized  to  ask  for  and  accept  from 
the  owners  of  slaves  the  services  of  such  able-bodied 
negro  men  as  he  may  deem  expedient,  for  and  during 
the  war,  to  perform  military  duty  in  whatever  capacity 
he  may  direct." 

The  last  clause  provides:  "That  nothing  in  this  act 
shall  be  construed  to  authorize  a  change  in  the  relations 
which  the  said  slaves  shall  bear  to  their  owners,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  the  same  paper  is  a  message  from  Jefferson  Davis 
to  the  Confederate  Congress,  dated  March  18,  1865,  in 
which  occurs  the  following  reference  to  the  "Negro  Bill :" 
"The  bill  for  employing  negroes  as  soldiers  has  not  yet 
reached  me,  though  the  printed  journal  of  your  proceed- 
ings informs  me  of  its  passage.  Much  benefit  is  antici- 
pated from  this  measure,  though  far  less  than  would  have 


224  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

resulted  from  its  adoption  at  an  earlier  date  so  as  to 
afford  time  for  their  organization  and  instruction  during 
the  winter  months." 

As  might  have  been  conjectured,  the  colored  men  did 
not  flock  to  a  standard  that  was  the  emblem  of  a  people 
bent  on  the  perpetual  enslavement  of  the  African  race  in 
America. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

FALL  OF  MOBILE  AND  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  END. 

"Thus  far  our  fortunes  keep  an  upward  course, 
And  we  are  grac'd  with  wreaths  of  victory." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

SPANISH  FORT  having  fallen  into  the  possession  of  the 
Union  forces  April  8,  while  Forts  Huger  and  Tracy,  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Tensaw,  were  reduced  at  the  same  time 
by  the  war  vessels  in  Mobile  Bay,  the  Federal  fleet  at 
once  moved  ten  miles  up  Tensaw  River,  in  the  vicinity 
of  Fort  Blakely,  cutting  its  water  communications. 
Meanwhile,  as  elsewhere  narrated,  the  fort  was  assaulted 
by  General  Steele's  forces  and  carried,  with  twenty-five 
hundred  prisoners.  The  eastern  defenses  of  Mobile  hav- 
ing thus  all  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Federals,  the 
city  was  promptly  evacuated. 

In  the  light  of  these  events  the  following,  taken  from 
a  leading  Mobile  paper  issued  April  8,  the  very  day 
Spanish  Fort  fell  into  our  hands,  is  interesting  reading: 

"We  maintain  that  the  expedition  which  the  enemy  has 
put  on  foot  for  the  capture  of  Mobile  is  inadequate  for 
the  end  in  view,  and  that  we  have  ample  power  to  resist 
and  thwart  his  purpose.  His  whole  force  is  massed  in 
front  of  our  defenses  on  the  eastern  shore,  and  up  to  this 
time,  we  confidently  state  it  as  an  irrefutable  fact  that 
he  has  not  gained  a  shaving.  He  makes  an  infernal  noise 
with  his  mortars  and  big  guns,  but  not  one  bomb  in  fifty 
hurts  anybody,  and  he  has  not  even  grazed  our  works, 
which  are  twice  as  strong  as  they  were  when  the  fight 

is  (225) 


226  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

began,  and  are  growing  more  and  more  so  every  hour 
the  fight  continues.  At  the  rate  of  progress  the  Yanks 
are  making  over  the  bay  a  gallant  and  experienced  Con- 
federate officer  says  it  will  take  them  just  five  years  and. 
three  months  to  take  Mobile.  By  that  time  we  may  in- 
dulge the  hope  that  'something  will  turn  up.' " 

The  evening  of  April  11,  the  writer,  with  his  company, 
crossed  over  to  Mobile  and  that  night  slept  in  a  vacant 
house  near  the  bay.  A  few  feet  in  front  was  a  huge 
cannon  with  a  pyramid  of  cannon  balls  by  its  side. 
Nearby  was  a  magazine  containing  shells  and  other  ex- 
plosive ammunition,  looking  much  like  an  out-door  cellar. 
The  grass  over  this  and  all  about  the  cannon  was  green 
and  beautiful,  and  a  few  feet  in  front  were  the  waters 
of  the  bay, 

The  Confederates  had  retreated  up  the  Mobile  and 
Alabama  Rivers,  and  up  the  former  stream  the  Thir- 
teenth Corps  was  at  once  ordered,  following  for  a  time 
the  Mobile  &  Ohio  Railroad.  In  passing  about  Mobile 
the  great  strength  of  its  defenses  was  remarked  even  by 
our  common  soldiers,  and  had  the  Confederates  had  suffi- 
cient men  to  man  the  works  they  would  have  been  almost 
impregnable  against  direct  assault.  One  of  the  ablest 
engineers  in  the  Confederate  army  said  Mobile  was  the 
best  fortified  place  in  the  South. 

At  Whistler,  a  little  station  on  the  Mobile  &  Ohio 
Railroad,  a  few  miles  from  Mobile,  quite  a  lively  skirm- 
ish was  had  with  the  enemy's  cavalry.  This  was  the  last 
engagement  the  Thirteenth  Corps  participated  in,  and  is 
further  claimed  to  have  been  one  of  the  last  battles  of 
the  war. 

Rumors  now  began  to  be  circulated  that  Lee  had  been 
defeated  and  Richmond  captured.  But  these  were  not 


Comfort  and  "Hoe-cake."  227 

confirmed.  Meantime,  the  army  moved  up  the  country 
some  fifty  miles  north  of  Mobile.  The  march  was,  for 
the  most  part,  through  a  thinly  populated  region  with 
only  now  and  then  at  farm  house. 

One  day  the  march  led  over  heavy  roads,  and  all  day 
long  through  a  cold,  drizzling  rain.  Towards  night  the 
command  halted,  and  I,  with  some  companions,  found! 
comfortable  quarters  before  the  fire  of  a  rude  negro 
cabin,  and  ate  with  much  relish  the  corn  "hoe-cake"  pre- 
pared at  its  hearth  by  a  colored  Aunty. 

Ah,  youthful  comrade  of  that  day,  now  grown  to  old 
age,  and,  maybe,  the  possessor  of  ample  fortune,  and, 
perhaps,  the  favored  one  of  a  choice  circle  of  friends! 
Do  marble  steps  leading  through  wide  doorway  and 
stately  hall,  to  spacious1  rooms  with  velvet  carpets,  richly 
upholstered  furniture  and  frescoed  ceiling,  pervaded 
throughout — even  in  mid-winter — with  a  summer  tem- 
perature, seem  half  as  inviting  as  did  that  rude  threshold 
and  rough  little  low  door  through  which  you  that  day 
could  not  enter  without  bowing  your  head?  Or  does 
luxurious  food,  prepared  with  special  aim  to  tempt  and 
tickle  the  palate,  and  eaten  from  daintiest  china  upon  the 
finest  and  whitest  table  linen,  give  you  half  the  pleasure 
you  that  day  had  from  Aunty's  hoe-cake,  eaten  upon 
the  plain  board  table  beside  her  simple  hearth  ? 

About  a  week  after  leaving  Mobile  the  command  re- 
ceived official  notice  of  the  fall  of  Richmond  and  sur- 
render of  Lee.  All  were,  of  course,  rejoiced,  knowing 
the  war  would  soon  end. 

For  two  or  three  days  the  army  camped  near  the  resi- 
dence of  Mrs.  Godbow,  the  mother  of  General  Earl  Van 
Dorn's  wife;  it  was  a  plain  two-story  frame  house, 
painted  white.  General  Van  Dorn  had  been  conspicuous 


228  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

in  the  Confederate  service,  but  during  the  second  year  of 
the  war  had  a  personal  difficulty  with  Doctor  Peters,  of 
Tennessee,  by  whom  he  was  killed.  His  wife  was  living 
in  the  quiet  lonely  region,  retired  from  the  world,  appar- 
ently with  no  companion  save  her  mother. 

While  encamped  at  this  place  the  news  of  Lincoln's 
assassination  was  received.  It  was  terrible  news  to  the 
soldiers,  and  the  first  impulse  of  every  man  seemed  a 
desire  to  in  some  way  avenge  the  President's  death.  And 
had  the  enemy  been  in  our  immediate  front  in  battle 
array  there  is  no  question  but  at  this  period  the  Union 
soldiers  would  have  fought  with  unusual  determination; 
but  the  Confederacy  was  crumbling  to  pieces,  and  shoot- 
ing enemies  of  the  Government  was  soon  to  be  a  thing 
of  the  past. 

The  command  finally  went  into  camp  immediately  on 
the  bank  of  Tombigbee  River,  at  a  place  called  Mackin- 
tosh Bluff.  Here  a  tall  flag-pole,  eighty  feet  high,  was 
erected,  and  all  seemed  to  have  a  good  time.  The  war 
was  substantially  over,  and  no  more  hard  campaigns  be- 
ing in  prospect,  there  seemed  nothing  to  do  but  wait  until 
such  time  as  the  Government  should  see  fit  to  muster  us 
out. 

A  few  of  the  better-disposed  people  seemed  willing  to 
renew  their  allegiance  to  the  Government,  and  over  such 
the  army  extended  its  protection,  furnishing,  when  de- 
sired, guards  for  their  property.  Upon  two  or  three 
occasions  I  went  upon  this  service,  and  my  guard  duty 
at  one  house  is  well  remembered.  The  people  were  well- 
to-do,  but,  like  very  many  Southerners,  lived  in  a  large 
log  house,  the  main  part  of  which  consisted  of  two  large, 
square  rooms,  with  a  large  open  space  between,  and  a 


Southern  Hospitality.  229 

wide  porch  in  front  of  all,  while  at  the  rear  was  the  din- 
ing-room, and  at  a  little  distance,  the  kitchen. 

The  lady  of  the  house  was  very  pleasant  and  chatty, 
and  had  much  to  say  regarding  the  pleasant  winters  they 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  enjoying  at  Mobile  before  the 
war  put  an  end  to  Southern  prosperity.  She  was  of 
rather  full  figure,  and  in  flush  times  had  evidently  been 
inclined  to  dress  and  gay  society. 

The  husband,  a  lean,  lank  Southerner,  was  disposed  to 
be  taciturn.  He  made  free  use  of  the  "weed,"  however, 
and  under  the  inspiration  of  a  large  "quid"  of  this,  espe- 
cially if  his  wife  was  away,  warmed  up  enough  to  meas- 
ure off  with  great  deliberation  a  few  words  by  way  of 
conversation.  He  talked  most  of  dogs  and  hunting,  and 
said  there  were  yet  many  deer  and  some  bears  in  the 
forest.  He  stated  that  hunters  were,  however,  compelled 
to  wait  till  the  water  in  all  the  streams  and  bayous  was 
at  a  very  low  stage,  so  that  the  dogs  used  in  hunting 
could  cross  without  swimming;  otherwise,  they  were 
liable  to  be  destroyed  by  alligators.  He  made  the  further 
statement  that  a  dog's  barking  near  the  bank  of  a  stream 
would  cause  any  alligators  within  earshot  to,  at  once, 
come  to  the  spot  where  the  dog  was  supposed  to  be. 

When  asked  concerning  the  liability  of  an  alligator 
attacking  a  human  being,  he  said  they  were  not  apt  to 
attack  a  white  man.  "But,  I  tell  you,"  he  added,  "they're 
death  on  niggers  and  dogs." 

By  and  by  dinner  was  announced  and  was  served  with 
considerable  formality;  several  servants — yet  practically 
slaves — being  in  attendance.  The  whole  of  the  table 
service  was  very  good,  and  the  dinner  was  as  excellent 
as  it  could  well  be  made  without  wheaten  flour ;  corn  meal 
in  several  forms  was  made  to  take  its  place. 


230  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

Tombigbee  River  was  high  and  the  current  was  very 
swift.  Several  old  canoes  and  rickety;  boats  were  at  the 
water's  edge,  and  in  these  excursions  were  sometimes 
made  to  the  opposite  shore,  half  a  mile  distant,  in  search 
of  mulberries.  One  day,  with  a  companion,  I  had  crossed 
the  river  in  one  of  these  frail  boats,  and  was  gathering 
mulberries  from  a  tree  on  the  farther  shore  when  there 
was  seen  coming  down  the  river  a  fleet  of  vessels.  As 
the  Federals  had  no  steamboats  on  the  river,  those  in 
sight  were  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  It  was  soon  dis- 
covered that  they  were  gunboats,  but  not  of  the  Federal 
Navy.  They  passed  nearby  and  anchored  a  little  farther 
down  in  the  middle  of  the  river.  This  was  the  remnant 
of  a  Confederate  fleet  that  had  retreated  up  the  river 
upon  the  fall  of  Mobile, 

On  returning  we  passed  very  near  these  vessels,  but 
those  on  board  seemed  as  quiet  and  orderly  as  if  attend- 
ing a  funeral.  Pretty  soon  a  whole  fleet  of  transports 
hove  in  sight,  and  it  was  learned  that  these,  with  the  gun- 
boats and  all  other  Confederate  property  of  a  military 
character,  had  a  few  days  previous  been  surrendered  by 
General  Richard  Taylor,  the  Confederate  Department 
Commander,  to  General  Canby,  representing  the  United 
States  Government. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

A  CONFEDERATE  MAIL-BAG  AND  A  GLIMPSE  AT 
SOME  OF  ITS  CONTENTS. 

"A  letter,  timely  writ,  is  a  rivet  to  the  chain  of  affection; 
And  a  letter  untimely  delayed,  is  as  rust  to  the  solder." 

— TUPPER. 

"Kind  messages,  that  pass  from  land  to  land ; 
Kind  letters,  that  betray  the  hearts  deep  history." 

— LONGFELLOW. 

JUST  before  the  cessation  of  hostilities  a  Confederate 
mail-sack,  heavily  laden  with  letters,  papers,  etc.,  was 
captured  north  of  Mobile.  This,  some  time  in  May,  was 
emptied  near  where  the  writer's  company  was  encamped. 
The  contents  were  a  confused  mass  of  papers,  torn 
envelopes  and  open  letters,  all  having  been)  hurriedly 
examined  at  division  headquarters.  Very  many  of  the 
letters  were  so  poorly  written  as  to  be  almost  unintelli- 
gible; others  showed  good  penmanship  and  education, 
refinement  and  culture  in  the  writers.  All  were  written 
upon  the  thin,  poor,  shoddy  paper  of  Confederate  manu- 
facture. Several  very  crude  wood  cuts  were  found  that 
had  been  forwarded  as  valentines  to  certain  members  of 
the  fair  sex  by  their  admirers.  One  of  these,  now  in  the 
writer's  possession,  was  printed  on  the  shoddiest  kind  of 
paper  by  George  Dunn  &  Company,  publishers,  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  and  just  below  a  rude  cut  of  a  female  with 
low-necked  dress,  short  sleeves,  flowing  skirts,  wide 
flounces  and  capacious  hoop  skirt,  is  a  stanza,  the  last 
words  of  which  are :  "Ah,  let  me  still  survive,  and  burn 
in  Cupid's  flames,  bu.t  let  me  burn  alive." 

(231) 


232  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

The  following  is  deemed  of  sufficient  interest  to  give 
in  full: 

NEAR  AUGUSTA,  GA.,  MARCH  2,  1865. 
UNKNOWN  FRIEND: — 

Being  confined  to  our  tents  today  in  order  to  have  some  pas- 
time, Mr.  Kennedy,  of  Fifty-fifth  Tennessee  Regiment,  Quarle's 
Brigade,  proposed  the  names  of  several  young  ladies  of  his  ac- 
quaintance. The  names  were  all  put  on  strips  of  paper  and  then 
in  a  hat ;  each  one  had  to  draw  per  ballot,  and  the  name  he  drew 
he  was  to  write  to  that  lady.  Among  eight  names  I  drew  yours, 
and  in  discharging  the  obligation  resting  on  me  you  will  excuse 
me  for  my  presumption.  I  will  refer  you  to  Mr.  Kennedy,  who 
is  a  friend  of  yours  and  also  a  particular  friend  of  mine,  for 
particulars  relating  to  me. 

In  doing  justice  to  you,  I  will  state  that  I  am  quite  a  young 
man  and  an  Alabamian  by  birth;  have  been  soldiering  for  four 
years;  have  passed  through  many  dangers,  seen  and  unseen,  and 
by  the  kindness  of  an  overruling  Providence  I  am  still  spared 
a  monument  of  God's  mercy.  I  hope  to  live  to  see  this  cruel 
war  over,  and  that  I  may  then  find  some  loving  and  confiding 
companion  and  with  her  glide  smoothly  down  the  stream  of 
time  hand  in  hand,  until  I  reach  the  Valley  of  Death;  even  then 
I  hope  to  have  so  lived  that  I  can  then  launch  out  upon  the  un- 
known future  and  ride  safely  into  port.  I  have  no  news  that 
will  interest  you.  We  are  here  in  Camp  of  Direction  awaiting 
orders.  I  think  we  will  not  try  to  get  with  our  command,  who 
are  at  or  in  vicinity  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  but  go  to  Montgomery, 
Selina  or  Mobile.  If  we  come  to  Mobile  I  will  be  happy  to  form 
your  acquaintance. 

If  Mr.  Kennedy  is  with  me  I  will  try  and  do  so.  Hoping  that 
you  will  not  think  hard  of  this,  but  write  in  answer,  I  remain 
your  sincere  but  unknown  friend. 

JAMES  A.  MCCAULY. 

First  Alabama  Regiment,  Company  "D,"  Quarle's  Brigade 
Army  Tennessee. 

This  letter  has  now  been  in  the  writer's  possession 
fifty-one  years.  He  has  read  it  many  times,  and  always 
with  renewed  interest,  and  it  has  never  failed  to  bring 


"It  Might  Have  Been."  233 

before  his  mind  an  all-pervading  sense  of  what  "might 
have  been,"  had  it  not  miscarried  and  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  a  Yankee  instead  of  the  fair  one  intended. 

The  letter  was  in  a  great  heap  with  many  others,  and 
like  all  the  rest,  had  been  removed  from  its  envelope,  so 
that  it  was  impossible  to  ascertain  the  name  of  the  young 
lady  addressed.  It  was  written  on  blue-tinted  paper  of 
unusually  good  quality  for  Confederate  manufacture ;  the 
handwriting  good,  and,  indeed,  the  whole  make-up  of  the 
letter  was  just  of  the  kind  most  likely  to  impress  the 
mind  of  a  young  lady.  Had  it  reached  its  destination  an 
interesting  correspondence  would  certainly  have  followed, 
and  very  likely  a  love  affair,  and  perhaps  an  engagement 
and  marriage.  Maybe,  however,  McCauly  came  to  Mo- 
bile, was  there  during  the  siege,  firing  at  the  invaders, 
and  when  off  duty  calling  upon  his  "unknown  friend." 
And  maybe  he  fell  at  Spanish  Fort  or  Blakely  in  defense 
of  his  native  Alabama. 

Such  a  letter  as  he  writes  is  calculated  to  set  in  opera- 
tion a  thousand  conjectures,  and  then  it  has  the  ring  of 
the  true  soldier  with — as  is  usual  with  brave  men — an 
entire  absence  of  bitter  epithets  for  his  enemies. 

In  a  different  vein  is  the  following,  found  at  the  same 
time,  and  yet  in  the  writer's  possession : 

TALLAHASSEE  LANDING,  DEC.  20,  1864. 

MY  DEARLY  BELOVED  MOTHER  : — What  in  this  wide  world  is  the 
matter  with  you  all  that  I  never  hear  from  any  of  you?  Have 
the  Yankees  forbidden  your  writing,  and  won't  they  allow  your 
letters  free  passage  to  Mobile?  Just  four  years  ago  we  arrived 
home  and  were  together.  How  many  events  have  transpired 
since  that  time.  For  four  years  has  a  desolating  war  been  waged 
upon  our  land,  and  oh,  how  many  have  met  their  fate,  and  I  fear 
many  more  will  have  to  sacrifice  their  lives  before  the  end  of 
the  struggle  for  independence.  I  suppose  ere  this  you  have  heard 


234  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

of  the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tenn.,  which  was  fought  two  or  three 
weeks  ago.  It  must  have  been  an  awful  fight.  Our  soldiers 
charged  their  line  of  breastworks  and  succeeded  in  capturing  (?) 
them.  It  was  a  great  slaughter  and  almost  a  drawn  battle.  We 
claim  a  victory,  but  lost  from  five  to  eight  thousand  men.  Oh! 
how  many  of  our  brave,  true  soldiers  sacrificed  their  lives  on 
their  country's  altar  that  day!  How  many  fond  hopes  and  an- 
ticipations and  loved  ones  met  their  doom  and  now  lie  buried  in 
the  cold  soil  of  Tennessee!  Is  it  not  awful  to  think  of? 

And  when  those  they  loved,  off  in  distant  States,  hear  of  their 
deaths  how  sad  their  hearts  will  be !  We  lost  several  good  Gen- 
erals whose  places  can  hardly  be  filled.  The  Fifteenth  Missis- 
sippi went  into  the  fight  with  two  hundred  and  twenty  men  and 
lost  seventy.  Loring's  Division  that  day  lost  seven  hundred  men ; 
it  is  said  the  loss  of  line  and  field  officers  was  great. 

I  heard  from  Cousin  Bob  not  long  since.  He  was  well  and  in 
fine  spirits ;  he  said  they  got  but  very  little  to  eat,  that  they  would 
kill  a  hog  and  never  clean  the  hair  off,  and  they  would  get  their 
rations  of  meat  with  the  hair  on  and  cook  it  on  a  stick.  He 
would  make  his  bread  on  his  oil  cloth  and  bake  it  on  a  fence 
rail.  He  had  been  in  several  fights  since  I  heard  from  him. 
Well,  mother,  the  Yankees  have  been  pretty  close  to  us.  They 
have  been  up  on  the  railroad  as  far  as  Pollard;  they  destroyed 
the  track  for  some  distance  and  then  left.  There  was  about 
four  hundred  white  men  and  five  hundred  negroes.  Governor 
Watts  has  called  out  the  militia  to  drive  them  back. 

Yankee  General  Sherman  has  evacuated  Atlanta  and  gone  in 
the  interior  of  the  State;  he  has  been  to  Miledgeville  and  sev- 
eral other  towns.  No  one  can  imagine  what  he  intends  doing; 
the  papers  say  that  he  is  soon  to  be  surrounded  and  captured. 
I  hope  so,  but  fear  he  is  too  wide  awake  to  be  caught  in  a  trap. 
The  mean  old  wretch !  I  wish  he  would  be  caught  'and  hung  to 
the  first  limb.  Oh !  that  I  was  a  man ;  I  would  be  willing  to 
sacrifice  everything  on  earth  and  go  and  fight  for  my  country. 
I  daily  wish  that  I  was  a  man. 

How  I  wish  I  could  see  you  all  and  be  happy  once  again  on 
earth.  Do  you  hear  from  grandma  often?  How  does  she  and 
Aunt  Vicky  get  along  with  the  Yankees?  Where  is  Howard 
now — in  the  army?  Give  my  love  to  aunty  and  the  girls.  How 


"O,  That  I  Was  a  Man!"  235 

is  Mrs.  Julia  Murphy?  My  love  to  her.  I  suppose  you  would 
like  to  hear  something  of  the  family.  All  are  well ;  the  children 
grow  fast;  they  will  soon  be  large  enough  to  go  to  school.  Hall 
is  so  much  like  our  family  in  every  respect;  he  is  a  smart,  sweet 
child,  and  so  are  all  the  rest.  How  do  you  expect  to  spend  your 
Christmas?  I  hope  pleasantly.  I  expect  to  see  no  pleasure  at 
all.  It  will  be  a  very  dull  one  here.  Dear  mother,  do  write  often 
to  me,  and  make  Beckie  write,  too,  and  tell  me  everything  con- 
cerning you  all.  I  will  close  for  this  time.  I  will  look  anxiously 
for  a  letter  from  you. 
Good-bye,  dear  mother;  believe  me  your  loving  child, 

VICTORIA  NIXON. 

On  one  margin  of  the  letter  was  written  the  following : 
"Don't  never  send  another  letter  to  M — k,  as  they  gen- 
erally open  them  all  at  that  office.  Send  them  hereafter 
to  Lowndes — now,  be  certain  to  do  it." 

Fellow  participitants  in  the  Mobile  campaign,  that  let- 
ter of  Mrs.  Victoria  Nixon  is  wonderfully  human,  isn't 
it?  And  when  in  the  long  ago  you  were  firing  at  those 
fellows  over  there  so  recklessly,  did  it  not  occur  to  you 
that!  they  had  homes,  friends  and  loving  kindred  just  as 
you  had,  all  .of  whom  were  as  near  and  dear  to  them  as 
yours  to  you?  War  is  a  horrid  thing  at  best,  and  the 
men  who  are  killed  and  wounded  are  far  from  being  its 
only  and  really  worst  sufferers. 

If  Mrs.  Victoria  Nixon  is  yet  alive  and  should  these 
pages  by  any  fortunate  chance  come  under  her  eyes,  I 
trust  she  will  accept  the  very  best  wishes  of  the  author, 
her  erstwhile  enemy ;  and  to  her  family*  of  little  folks  of 
fifty-one  years  ago,  if  alive  today,  gray-haired  men  and 
women,  a  most  cordial  greeting  is  extended. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

SURRENDER  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  ARMIES — 

INCIDENTS  ATTENDING  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE 

LAST  CAMPAIGN. 

"There  is  a  tear  for  all  that  die, 
A  mourner  o'er  the  humblest  grave." 

— BYRON. 

AT  the  opening  of  the  spring  campaign  in  1865,  the 
four  main  armies  of  the  Confederates  were:  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  under  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  oc- 
cupied in  the  defense  of  Richmond  and  Petersburg; 
Army  of  the  Tennessee,  under  General  Joseph  E.  John- 
ston, confronting  Sherman  in  the  Carolinas;  Army  of 
the  Trans-Mississippi,  under  General  E.  Kirby  Smith, 
with  headquarters  at  Shreveport,  La.,  and  Army  of  Ala- 
bama, under  General  Richard  Taylor,  principally  at 
Mobile,  Ala. 

The  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  surrendered  April  9 
to  General  Grant  at  Appomattox ;  the  Army  of  the  Ten- 
nessee surrendered  to  General  Sherman  April  26.  The 
Army  of  the  Trans-Mississippi,  having  had  pretty  much 
its  own  way  in  Texas  and  Western  Louisiana  since 
Banks'  Red  River  campaign,  one  year  before,  was  ex- 
ceedingly loath  to  yield  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  upon  the  21st  of  April  its  commander  issued 
an  address  to  his  soldiers  containing  these  words :  "With 
you  rests  the  hopes  of  our  Nation  (the  Confederacy), 
and  upon  your  action  depends  the  fate  of  our  people. 
Stand  by  your  colors,  maintain  your  discipline,  be  the 
(236) 


African  Slave  Traders.  237 

means  of  checking  the  triumph  of  our  enemy,  and  secur- 
ing the  final  triumph  of  our  cause!" 

But  later,  when  all  the  Confederate  forces  east  of  the 
Mississippi  had  capitulated,  General  E.  Kirby  Smith  sur- 
rendered to  General  E.  R.  S.  Canby.  Meantime,  General 
Smith's  warlike  address  had  caused  the  United  States 
authorities  to  set  on  foot  a  large  expedition  under  Gen- 
eral P.  H.  Sheridan,  for  the  overthrow  of  all  enemies 
in  Texas  and  Western  Louisiana.  But  General  Smith 
finally  concluded  further  resistance  was  folly,  and  capitu- 
lated as  stated  above. 

After  the  fall  of  Mobile,  April  9,  General  Richard 
Taylor  withdrew  the  greater  part  of  the  troops  compos- 
ing the  Army  of  Alabama  toward  the  interior,  but  finally, 
at  Citronelle,  Ala.,  May  4,  turned  over  to  General  E.  R. 
S.  Canby  all  munitions  of  war,  public  property  of  a  mili- 
tary character,  and  surrendered  his  army.  At  the  same 
time  and  place  Commodore  Tarrand,  of  the  Confederate 
Navy,  surrendered  the  naval  forces  on  the  Tombigbee 
River.  A  part  of  these,  with  some  transports,  made  up 
the  fleet  that  the  writer  came  upon  so  unexpectedly,  as 
referred  to  in  the  last  chapter. 

In  a  few  days  arrangements  were  made  for  all  the 
Union  troops  to  go  to  Mobile  upon  the  captured  trans- 
ports. One  of  these  was  the  Southern  Republic,  a  large 
three-"decker."  It  had  been  the  property  of  two 
brothers  at  Mobile,  who  grew  rich  in  the  African  slave 
trade.  About  Mobile  were  some  natives  of  Africa  who, 
after  being  kidnapped,  had  been  brought  over  to  this 
country  and  sold  into  slavery. 

Upon  the  transports  were  a  few  Confederates  dressed 
in  their  conventional  gray.  Most  of  these  were  officers, 


238  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

and  some  of  them  were  from  Lee's  army  and  had  got 
thus  far  on  their  journey  homeward. 

At  last  all  were  aboard  and  started  down  the  river  for 
Mobile.  The  last  hostile  movement  having  been  made 
against  the  enemy,  and  with  no  more  in  prospect,  came 
a  new  sensation — the  long,  cruel  war  had  at  last  ended. 
Those  who  have  reached  mature  age  since  war-time  can 
have  no  adequate  realization  of  the  long  days  of  bloody 
battle,  anxiety  and  anguish,  that  lengthened  out  into 
weeks,  months  and  years,  from  April,  1861,  till  April, 
1865. 

The  trip  to  Mobile  was  quickly  made.  The  river  was 
full  and  the  current  swift;  the  banks  were,  for  the  most 
part,  covered  with  unbroken  forest,  some  of  the  larger 
trees  overhanging  the  water's  edge.  All  the  trees  of  the 
forest  were  covered  with  long  gray  moss  that  dropped 
from  the  boughs  and  fell  over  the  foliage  in  a  graceful 
manner,  light,  airy  and  beautiful  as  lace  work. 

After  reaching  Mobile  the  division  went  into  camp 
about  three  miles  from  the  city  upon  the  hills.  My  com- 
pany was  encamped  in  the  yard  of  one  of  the  brothers — 
name  forgotten — before  referred  to  as  one  of  the  owners 
of  the  Southern  Republic,  and  who  had  grown  rich  be- 
fore the  war  in  the  African  slave  trade.  The  house  was 
a  large,  square,  plain  structure,  but  pleasant  and  home- 
like. 

While  all  active  military  service  was  at  an  end,  there 
were  yet  formal  camp  duties  to  perform;  among  these 
was  guard  duty.  However,  in  this  all  soon  grew  lax, 
and  the  writer  more  than  once  about  this  period  remem- 
bers waking  from  sound  sleep  the  party  whom  he  was  to 
relieve.  Two  hours  in  the  middle  of  night  at  some  lone 
spot  drags  along  very  slowly.  When  on  guard  under 


Capture  of  Jefferson  Davis.  239 

such  circumstances  the  writer  more  than  once  resorted 
to  counting.  After  learning  by  trial  how  many  could  be 
counted  in  a  given  time,  it  was  readily  ascertained,  by 
approximation,  of  course,  the  number  that  would  be 
counted  in  two  hours;  then  upon  mounting  guard  the 
counting  of  this  number  was  resolutely  entered  upon  and 
kept  at  till  accomplished,  at  about  which  time  the  ap- 
proach of  the  relief  gave  notice  that  the  two  hours  had 
expired.  This  simple  expedient,  by  fixing  the  mind  upon 
the  accomplishment  of  a  certain  object,  served  to  hasten 
the  flight  of  time. 

Some  of  these  lone  nights,  when  on  guard,  the  only 
living  thing  seemed  to  be  the  Southern  mocking-bird. 
Sometimes  the  singer  would  make  his  presence  known 
in  some  thick  bush  nearby  in  a  burst  of  song  that  in  suc- 
cession mimicked  every  bird  of  the  forest. 

While  encamped  at  this  place  papers  were  received 
containing  a  full  account  of  the  capture  of  Jefferson 
Davis.  This  occurred  May  10,  1865,  at  Irwinsville,  Ga. 
The  captors  were  a  body  of  men  under  Colonel  Pritchard, 
of  the  Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry.  The  capture  of  the 
President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  at  the  time  of  its 
occurrence  occasioned  much  rejoicing,  and  removed  the 
last  vestige  of  Southern  resistance. 

One  day,  with  two  or  three  companions,  I  went  black- 
berrying  in  a  heavily-timbered  section,  two  or  three  miles 
from  camp,  situated  in  a  low  region  of  country  in  which 
were  several  swamps  and  bayous. 

After  a  time,  while  picking  some  berries  and  moving 
about  in  quest  of  others,  I  became  separated  from  my 
companions.  Meantime  the  sun  became  obscured  by 
heavy  clouds,  it  began  to  thunder  and  threaten  rain,  while 
in  almost  every  direction  could  be  heard  the  deep  bellow- 


240  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

ing  of  alligators.  They  seemed  nearby,  and  their  un- 
earthly noise  was  not  calculated  to  add  to  the  cheerful- 
ness of  one  alone  in  a  heavy,  strange  forest  in  an  enemy's 
country  and  with  a  terrific  storm  approaching.  For- 
tunately, however,  the  storm  passed  around  and  I  soon 
found  my  way  out  of  the  timber,  and  in  due  time  reached 
camp  with  a  good  supply  of  nice  berries. 

Speaking  of  alligators,  the  writer  recalls  an  experi- 
ence with  what  was  supposed  to  be  one  in  the  early 
spring  of  1863,  while  marching  across  the  peninsula 
opposite  Vicksburg,  when  upon  the  campaign  against  that 
stronghold.  The  command,  had  halted  for  a  day  or  two 
at  Holmes'  plantation,  and  with  a  companion  I  set  out 
for  a  hunt.  The  whole  region  nearly  was  more  or  less 
under  water,  and  we  were  obliged  to  make  our  way  for 
the  most  part  upon  a  levee  that  led  along  the  banks  of 
a  bayou.  Pretty  soon  we  saw  what  was  thought  to  be 
an  alligator  sticking  his  head  out  of  the  water.  We  both 
had  army  muskets  that  carried  a  large  minnie  ball.  One 
of  us  took  aim  and  fired  very  deliberately,  but  made  no 
impression  upon  the  object  aimed  at,  but  as  alligators  are 
notoriously  non-impressionable  to  bullets,  nothing  was 
thought  of  this,  and  another  shot  was  fired.  About  this 
time  the  "alligator"  jerked  his  head  under  water,  but 
soon  put  it  out  again,  and  this  operation  he  repeated  at 
short  intervals.  Meantime  shot  after  shot  was  fired,  and 
at  last  one  knocked  off  a  large  piece  of  bark  from  the 
end  of  a  gray,  weather-beaten  log  that  lay  in  the  stream 
in  such  a  position  that  while  one  end  was  imbedded  in 
the  mud  the  other  projected  up  stream  and  just  came  to 
the  surface,  upon  which  it  rose  and  fell  with  the  current. 
This,  technically  called  by  boatmen  a  "sawyer,"  was 


Springfield  Musket,  made  in  America,  and  one  of  which  the 
author  carried  through  the  Mobile  Campaign  in  the  Spring 
of  1865. 


Hospital  Steward's  Chevrons,  worn  by  author  in  Civil  War 
Medical  Service ;  and  kind  of  Bottle  from  which  he  dispensed 
quinine. 

(See  paye  2 


Explosion  of  Ammunition.  241 

what  we  had  taken  for  an  alligator's  head  and  fired  at 
so  many  times'. 

One  day  I  was  sitting  upon  the  fence  around  the  house 
near  which  my  company  was  encamped,  when,  all  at  once, 
a  terrific  explosion  was  heard  that  seemed  to  be  right  at 
hand.  The  first  thought  was  that  the  Brigade  Battery 
had,  unnoticed,  taken  position  nearby  and  discharged  sev- 
eral pieces  simultaneously,  but  turning  my  eyes  toward 
Mobile  I  saw  rising  there  that  great  column  of  smoke 
characteristic  of  an  explosion.  The  smoke  mounted  up 
in  a  dark,  thick  mass  and  then  spread  out  like  an  im- 
mense umbrella  or  mushroom,  and  through  it  could  be 
seen  broken  timbers  and  debris  of  all  kinds  flying  in 
every  direction.  Although  three  miles  from  Mobile, 
quite  a  concussion  was  felt,  and  glass  was  cracked  in  the 
windows  of  the  houses  near  camp. 

It  was  supposed  a  steamer  at  the  wharf  had  blown 
up,  but  later  came  word  that  an  immense  amount  of 
ammunition  surrendered  by  the  Confederates,  shipped  in 
by  rail  and  stored  in  a  large  warehouse  in  Mobile,  had 
exploded.  A  number  were  killed,  and  the  shock  in  the 
city  was  almost  like  an  earthquake,  breaking  windows 
and  tearing  doors  from  their  hinges  all  over  the  city. 


1C 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 
DISBANDING  THE  ARMIES. 

"Grim-visaged  war  has  smoothed  his  wrinkled  front." 

— SHAKESPEARE. 

ENLISTING,  equipping,  drilling  and  disciplining  an 
army  is  a  long,  laborious  and  tedious  process,  as  one  can 
readily  see  who  gives  the  matter  thought.  Disbanding 
an  army,  which  includes  satisfactorily  settling  with  and 
mustering  out  each  individual  composing  that  army,  is 
not  so  difficult  a  process,  but  yet  is  one  that  takes  time 
and  involves  much  labor. 

Pretty  soon  after  the  surrender  of  the  Confederate 
armies  under  Generals  Lee  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston, 
orders  were  issued  from  Washington  for  mustering  out 
of  the  service  all  troops  whose  terms  of  enlistment 
expired  before  a  certain  date. 

In  the  case  of  the  77th  Illinois,  to  which  I  then  be- 
longed, and  which,  it  will  be  recalled,  comprised  the 
original  77th  organization  consolidated  with  the  original 
130th  Illinois,  the  term  of  enlistment  of  the  first  named 
expired  some  little  time  before  that  of  the  last  named; 
consequently  the  troops  composing  the  old  77th  were 
mustered  out,  and  we  of  the  old  130th  Illinois  were  re- 
organized and  became  the  130th  Illinois  Battalion,  and 
as  such  remained  in  the  service  a  time  longer. 

This  reorganization  restored  me  to  my  old  position  of 
hospital  steward,  not  a  little  to  my  own  satisfaction  and 
to  that  of  my  friends  as  well,  who,  I  flattered  myself, 
realized  that  during  my  six  months  in  the  ranks, 

(242) 


"Ups  and  Downs."  243 

I  had  tried  manfully  to  do  every  duty.  But  as  I  had 
begun  the  study  of  medicine  my  rightful  place  was  in 
the  medical  department,  and,  as  said  before,  I  felt  a 
great  deal  of  satisfaction  and  some  pride  in  getting  back. 

Thus  it  came  about  that  during  my  three  years'  mili- 
tary service  I  had  twice  been  a  private  with  a  gun  in  my 
hands,  and  theyimplied,  if  not  avowed,  intent  to  harrass, 
wound,  maim  and  in  every  way  cripple  the  enemy;  and 
twice  a  hospital  steward  with  the  declared  purpose  of 
binding  up  the  wounds  and  ministering  to  the  sufferings 
of  foe  and  friend  alike. 

Early  one  July  morning  those  composing  the  old  77th 
Illinois  were  drawn  up  in  line  preparatory  to  marching 
to  Mobile,  three  miles  distant,  where  a  steamer  awaited 
them  at  the  wharf ;  and  I  shall  never  forget  the  appear- 
ance of  these  men  as  I  viewed  them  from  my  tent  a  little 
distance  away.  How  light  their  hearts  and  how  bouyant 
their  steps  as  they  moved  off  on  their  journey!  With 
what  satisfaction  each  man  must  have  looked  upon  his 
service!  Since  the  date  of  his  enlistment,  three  years 
before,  what  tremendous  events  had  transpired!  Three 
years  of  weary,  tedious,  bloody  war  had  dragged  out 
their  agonizing  length!  Midsummer  1862 — midsummer 
1865 !  What  terrific  strife,  what  sorrow,  what  anguish, 
what  bleeding,  filled  the  gap!  July,  1862,  doubt,  distrust, 
disaster!  July,  1865,  joy,  confidence,  achievement,  vic- 
tory! 

Near  camp  was  a  family  with  whose  members  I  came 
to  be  quite  friendly.  They  loaned  me  books  to  read,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  when  they  were  away,  with 
a  companion,  I  slept  in  the  house.  Some  of  the  friends 
of  our  host  expostulated  with  him  for  trusting  so  much 
to  Yankee  soldiers. 


244:  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

One  day  in  August  an  order  came  for  the  battalion-  to 
report  at  New  Orleans,  to  be  mustered  out.  A  boat  was 
taken  at  Mobile  one  afternoon  and  the  trip  made  by  way 
of  Mississippi  Sound,  Grant's  Pass  and  Lake  Ponchar- 
train. 

Lake  Port,  near  New  Orleans,  was  reached  the  middle 
of  the  forenoon  next  day.  At  the  landing  a  one-legged 
soldier  from  Lee's  army  hobbled  off  the  boat  with  crutch 
and  cane.  He  had  given  four  years  of  service,  for  what? 
And  now,  crippled,  penniless,  and  perhaps  homeless,  he 
returned  to  his  native  city  to  drag  out  the  remnant  of  a 
life  worse  than  ruined  by  a  war  originally  brought  on  by 
a  few  in  his  native  South,  with  whom  he  had  neither 
interest  nor  sympathy. 

Some  days  were  spent  at  New  Orleans  making  out  the 
muster  rolls,  turning  over  Government  property,  etc. 

By  and  by,  all  being  in  readiness,  passage  up  the  river 
was  secured  on  a  most  excellent  river  boat,  and  upon  this 
the  battalion  embarked.  The  trip  was  delightful,  and 
many  places  passed  with  which  the  command  had  every 
reason  to  be  familiar.  Among  these  were  Baton  Rouge, 
Morganza  Bend,  Grand  Gulf,  Vicksburg,  Milliken's 
Bend,  Memphis,  etc.,  each  of  which  brought  to  mind 
past  experience  in  camp  and  field. 

Near  Memphis,  one  morning,  a  man  in  one  of  the  com- 
panies was  missing,  and  no  trace  of  him  could  be  found 
on  the  boat.  The  vessel  had  not  been  near  shore  since 
the  evening  previous,  when  the  missing  man's  comrades 
saw  him  alive  and  well. 

Upon  the  cabin  deck  of  the  boat  were  cots  upon  which 
were  several  sick  men;  one  of  these  was  delirious  with 
typhoid  fever,  and  one  night,  when  the  nurse's  back  was 


Our  Last  River  Trip.  245 

turned,  jumped  over  the  railing  and  was  lost  in  the  dark, 
seething  waters  of  the  Mississippi. 

One  evening  just  after  nightfall  the  lights  of  Cairo 
came  in  sight,  and  produced  a  strange  thrill  in  the  hearts 
of  the  little  band  of  Illinoisans  aboard,  who,  three  years 
before,  had  come  by  that  city  on  their  way  to  the  enemy's 
country,  but  with  what  fortune  they  were  to  return  no 
one  could  say.  Every  man  was  thrilled  with  delight  as 
he  stepped  from  the  boat  at  Cairo  and  once  more  trod 
upon  the  soil  of  his  own  beloved  State  that  had  sent  to 
the  front  so  many  of  its  brave  sons,  and  given  to  the 
Nation  a  Lincoln  and  a  Grant.  Seldom  does  it  fall  to 
the  lot  of  one  commonwealth  to  contribute  so  much  to 
the  country's  weal. 

Next  day,  toward  evening,  a  stock  train  was  boarded 
and  the  trip  to  Camp  Butler  started  upon.  Yes,  we 
gladly  entrained  on  cars  that  were,  to  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  yet  foul  from  the  shipping  of  cattle,  hogs  and 
horses.  This,  in  strange  contrast  to  the  Pullmans  in 
which  the  Spanish  War  soldiers  went  to  the  front,  and 
likewise  the  troops  of  today,  who  are  going  to  and  from 
the  Mexican  border.  But  with  us  circumstances  were 
different ;  so  long  and  so  much  had  we  been  on  the  march 
that  transportation  of  any  kind  and  in  any  sort  of  a  con- 
veyance whatsoever,  even  befouled  stock  cars,  seemed 
little  short  of  a  luxury. 

The  next  morning  after  entraining  found  us  approach- 
ing central  Illinois,  and  from  almost  every  farmhouse  and 
dwelling  those  within  were  waving  from  door  or  window 
some  article  of  textile  character.  Some  of  these  were 
handkerchiefs,  but  towels,  pillow  slips,  and,  indeed,  al- 
most anything  that  hand  could  be  laid  upon  was  vigor- 
ously waved.  One  German  woman,  from  an  upstairs 


24:6  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

window,  with  no  little  energy,  flaunted  what  our  soldiers 
declared  was  her  red  flannel  skirt!  But  it  all  meant 
hearty  welcome,  and  so  we  gladly  received  it. 

Campi  Butler  was  reached  in  the  afternoon,  and  as  its 
gates  were  entered  what  memories  crowded  upon  the 
mind!  Three  years  before,  out  of  this  enclosure, 
marched  an  organization  a  thousand  strong;  today  it 
returns  a  little  band  of  two  hundred.  Where  are  the 
eight  hundred  missing?  Some  of  them  have  but  recently 
come  from  the  enemy's  prison  pens  and  will  yet  reach 
their  friends  in  safety.  Many,  very  many,  found  graves 
beside  the  great  river  in  Tennessee,  Louisiana  and 
Mississippi,  and  others  lie  not  far  distant  from  the  sea 
in  Texas  and  Alabama.  Many  more  have  in  the  past 
three  years  been  discharged  as  no  longer  fit  for  service 
and  returned  to  their  homes  maimed  in  body  and  broken 
down  with  disease. 

Not  long  after  reaching  Camp  Butler  a  letter  was  re- 
ceived from  the  commandant  at  Vicksburg,  stating  that 
the  dead  body  of  a  man  was  rescued  from  the  river  there, 
upon  whose  person  was  found  letters  and  papers  that 
identified  him  as  the  soldier  who  disappeared  from  the 
vessel  so  suddenly  one  night  while  coming  up  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  letter  stated  further  that  there  was  a  bullet 
hole  through  the  man's!  head.  Thus  the  mystery  thick- 
ened rather  than  otherwise,  as  there  was  supposed  to  be 
no  one  on  the  boat  who  would  commit  murder,  and, 
besides,  a  shot  fired  would  certainly  have  attracted  atten- 
tion. This  was  the  last  death  in  the  command  previous 
to  dismemberment. 

Some  days  were  occupied  at  Camp  Butler  before  the 
final  scene  in  the  last  act  in  the  drama  of  war  was  en- 
acted. About  the  middle  of  September,  one  afternoon, 


Final  Muster-out. .  247 

the  little  battalion  was  drawn  up  in  line  for  the  last  time. 
Just  in  front  of  the  line  was  a  house  with  an  open  win- 
dow, at  which  sat  a  regular  army  officer.  Up  to  this 
window  each  man  stepped  as  his  name  was  called  off, 
and  there  was  handed  him  his  discharge  papers  and  a 
roll  of  money,  representing  the  amount  due  from  the 
Government.  But  little  time  was  taken  in  the  whole 
affair,  and  soon  what  had  been  the  130th  Regiment  of 
Illinois  Volunteers  became  a  thing  of  the  past. 

An  hour  or  two  later,  accompanied  by  a  comrade,  I 
boarded  a  train  for  Springfield,  six  miles  west,  and  upon 
arriving  there  registered  at  the  American  House,  think- 
ing we  would  once  more  enjoy  eating  from  dishes  placed 
on  a  white  tablecloth,  and  sleeping;  in  a  bed  with  quilts, 
sheets  and  pillows.  Just  how  we  came  out  as  regards 
tablecloth,  etc.,  I  do  not  now  recall,  but  the  sleeping 
experience  was  indelibly  impressed  on  my  memory. 

We  were  given  a  room  with  two  beds,  and  feeling  tired 
we  were  not  long  in  getting  in  them  in  anticipation  of  a 
good  night's  rest.  As  I  had  not  been  in  a  bed  for  a  long 
while  the  sensation  of  being  between  sheets  was  a  novel 
one,  but  the  fatigue  of  the  day  just  gone  acted  as  a  kind 
of  opiate  and  I  soon  fell  asleep.  Just  how  long  I  slept 
I  do  not  know,  but,  at  any  rate,  I  was  partially  awak- 
ened by  a  sensation  of  something  crawling  over  me. 
Thinking  this  was  probably  only  imagination  and  unwill- 
ing to  be  disturbed,  I  tried  not  to  notice  the  sensation, 
but  my  efforts  were  unavailing,  and  I  realized  that  sleep 
and  rest  of  any  kind  were  out  of  the  question. 

Hearing  a  noise  in  the  other  bed  as  of  one  turning 
about  I  called  to  my  comrade  and  asked  what  was  the 
trouble.  'Trouble,  trouble !  Bugs  are  the  trouble !"  We 


248  Muskets  and  Medicine. 

now  got  out  of  bed,  lit  the  gas,  and  found  not  a  few  bed- 
bugs crawling  over  our  pillows  and  sheets. 

In  our  three  years'  service  at  the  front  we  had  en- 
countered Alabama  alligators,  stood  our  ground  against 
Louisiana  mosquitoes,  and1  faced  a  valiant  enemy  on 
many  battlefields,  but  from  the  presence  of  these  North- 
ern pests  we  made  a  prompt  and  hasty  retreat.  In  an 
endeavor  to  make  the  best  of  circumstances  we  rolled  up 
our  coats  and  putting  them  under  our  heads,  in  lieu  of 
pillows,  passed  the  remainder  of  the  night  on  the  floor. 
As  soon  as  daylight  came  we  gathered  up  our  belong- 
ings and  left  the  room  in  possession  of  its  original  occu- 
pants, whose  prior  claim  to  occupancy  we  unhesitatingly 
conceded  to  be  stronger  than  ours. 

After  breakfast  we  took  a  train  on  the  Alton  &  Chi- 
cago Railway  for  St.  Louis,  and  on  the  way  I  found 
plenty  of  time  for  thought  and  reflection.  I  soon  found 
myself  in  a  mood  to  say  with  the  poet,  "I  am  pleased 
and  yet  I  am  sad" — pleased  because  the  war  was  over, 
and  the  great  object  for  which  it  was  waged,  namely,  the 
preservation  of  the  Union,  attained;  sad,  because  the 
associations  of  three  long  years  with  their  unique  experi- 
ences, were  broken  forever. 

In  due  time  we  reached  Illinoistown  (now  East  St. 
Louis)  and  crossed  the  Mississippi  on  a  ferryboat,  for 
as  yet  the  great  river  had  not  been  spanned  by  a  bridge. 
We  spent  the  night  at  the  Planter's  Hotel,  and  next 
morning  we  looked  about  the  city  and  made  some  neces- 
sary purchases.  I  bought  a  citizen's  suit  for  $30,  which 
today  could  be  had  for  about  a  third  of  that  amount. 

In  the  afternoon  we  recrossed  the  Mississippi  River  to 
Illinoistown,  where  we  took  an  east-bound  train  for 
Carlyle,  111.  Arriving  there  at  the  close  of  a  beautiful 


Home — And  the  End.  249 

September  day  I  recalled  the  fact  that  on  another  beauti- 
ful September  day,  almost  precisely  three  years  before, 
I  had  boarded  a  west-bound  train  to  start  on  my  army 
career  that  was  now  to  become  as  a  closed  book. 

The  night  was  passed  at  the  little  town  hotel,  three  of 
us  occupying  the  same  room,  and  undisturbed  by  unin- 
vited and  annoying  bed  fellows,  we  all  slept  soundly. 

Next  morning  we  took  the  hack  for  Greenville,  twenty 
miles  inland,  and  at  that  time  without  railway  connec- 
tion. We  had  a  long,  dusty  drive,  but  finally  reached  our 
destination  and  found  Greenville  to  be  the  same  quiet 
town  in  which,  three  years  before,  we,  as  embryo  sol- 
diers, had  drilled  on  its  commons,  marched  through  its 
dusty  streets,  and  counter-marched  over  its  board  side- 
walks. 


APPENDIX. 


SOME  FACTS  PERTAINING  TO  CIVIL  WAR  MEDICINE. 

THE  total  number  of  soldiers  in  the  Union  Army  was 
two  million  three  hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  forty-nine  (2,335,949).  Of  these  fifty-nine 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty  (59,860)  were  killed 
in  battle,  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  and  forty 
(280,040)  wounded,  of  whom  forty-nine  thousand  two 
hundred  and  five  (49,205)  died  of  their  injuries,  making 
a  total  of  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  and  sixty-five 
(109,065)  deaths  among  Union  soldiers  due  to  the 
enemy's  missiles.1 

About  one  shot  wound  in  five  proved  immediately 
fatal.  However,  to  this  rule  there  were  exceptions,  the 
most  remarkable  one  of  which,  perhaps,  occurred  at  Fort 
Donelson,  where  the  4th  Mississippi  (Confederate)  sus- 
tained a  loss  of  40  killed  and  only  8  wounded. 

The  relative  area  presented  by  various  parts  of  the 
body  has  been  calculated  with  some  degree  of  accuracy, 
and  for  the  head,  face  and  neck  is  believed  to  be  8.51 


1  It  has  been  estimated  that  the  Confederates  sustained  a  loss 
of  fifty-one  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  (51,425) 
killed  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-seven  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  seventy-one  (227,871)  wounded.  Allowing  that  the  fatality 
among  the  Confederate  wounded  would  not  be  less  than  that  of 
the  Federals,  the  number  dying  from  injuries  received  in  battle 
should  be  about  forty-one  thousand  (41,000).  Thus  the  Con- 
federate total  fatalities  would  in  round  numbers  aggregate 
ninety-two  thousand  (92,000). 

(250) 


Unusual  Cases.  251 


per  cent. ;  for  the  trunk,  28.91 ;  for  the  upper  extremities, 
21.14;  for  the  lower  extremities,  41.41. 

In  the  Civil  War  10.77  per  cent,  of  the  wounds  were  of 
the  head,  face  and  neck;  18.37  of  the  trunk;  35.71  of  the 
upper  extremities,  and  35.15  of  the  lower  extremities. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  more  than  seven-tenths  of  the 
wounds  were  of  the  extremities. 

Of  wounds  received  in  the  upper  extremities  the  hands 
and  fingers  were  injured  in  a  relatively  large  proportion 
of  cases,  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  these  members 
were  so  freely  exposed  in  loading,  firing  and  manipulat- 
ing the  weapon. 

UNUSUAL  CASES. 

One  man  became  a  target  for  so  many  bullets  that  he 
had  on  his  person  no  less  than  twenty-six  wounds  of 
entrance  and  exit,  most  of  which  were  in  his  lower 
extremities.  But,  notwithstanding  his  numerous  and 
severe  injuries,  he  survived  his  unfortunate  experience 
twenty-eight  days. 

Fourteen  soldiers  are  known  to  have  survived  pene- 
trating wounds  of  the  skull  which,  in  some  cases,  in- 
volved protrusion  of  brain-substance. 

In  four  instances  wounds  of  the  heart  did  not  prove 
immediately  fatal ;  and  one  patient  survived  for  fourteen 
•days  a  wound  of  one  of  his  auricles  inflicted  by  a  round 
musket  ball. 

About  one  wound  in  twelve  was  in  the  chest,  and  of 
those  which  penetrated  the  lungs,  a  little  more  than  six 
in  ten  proved  fatal. 

There  were  thirty-seven  recoveries  from  shot  wounds 
of  the  liver.  Of  sixty-four  cases  that  came  under  obser- 
vation with  penetrating  wounds  of  the  stomach,  only  one 


252  Civil  War  Medicine. 

recovered.  Other  than  this  group  of  sixty-four  cases 
there  were  not  a  few  shot  wounds  of  the  stomach  that 
proved  almost  immediately  fatal  on  the  battlefield. 

There  were  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seven- 
teen (3717)  penetrating  wounds  of  the  abdomen,  and  of 
these  more  than  92  per  cent,  were  fatal.  In  cases  where 
the  small  intestine  was  involved  death  almost  invariably 
resulted.  On  the  other  hand,  quite  a  few  recoveries  fol- 
lowed severe  wounds  of  the  large  intestine. 

CHARACTER  OF  MISSILES. 

In  one  hundred  and  forty-one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  sixty-one  (141,961)  wounds  in  which  the  character 
of  the  missile  was  ascertained  this  was  found  to  have 
been  fired  from  a  rifle,  musket,  carbine,  pistol  or  revolver ; 
in  other  words,  from  a  small  arm,  in  more  than  90  per 
cent,  of  cases.  So  that  fully  nine-tenths  of  Civil  War 
injuries  were  inflicted  by  the  man  with  a  gun  in  his 
hands. 

Furthermore,  the  great  majority  of  this  class  of  in- 
juries were  made  with  the  minnie  ball,  which  was  elon- 
gated, or  conoidal  in  shape,  pointed  at  one  end,  convex 
at  the  other  and  weighed  more  than  an  ounce.  In  firing 
the  convex  extremity  next  the  powder  expanded,  filled 
the  rifle  grooves  and  thus  the  bullet  received  a  rotary 
motion  that  greatly  increased  its  velocity  and  power  of 
execution.  From  the  Springfield  musket,  that  practically 
displaced  all  others  in  the  last  years  of  the  Civil  War,  a 
bullet  would  sometimes  kill  a  man  at  the  distance  of  a 
mile.  When  going  at  full  velocity  the  ball  would  usually 
make  a  round  hole  near  its  own  size  in  passing  through 
a  bone.  On  the  other  hand,  when  to  a  degree  spent, 


Base  Hospitals.  253 

any  bony  structure  impinged  against  would  be,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  shattered. 

Fourteen  thousand  and  two  (14,002)  wounds  were 
known  to  have  been  produced  by  missiles  such  as  grape- 
shot,  canister,  solid  shot  and  fragments  of  shell,  all  fired 
from  cannon,  ranging  in  caliber  from  six-pound  field 
guns  to  two  hundred-pound  Columbiads. 

Nine  hundred  and  twenty-two  (922)  wounds  were 
made  with  bayonet  or  sabre,  which  goes  to  show  that 
there  was  relatively  little  hand-to-hand  fighting  in  the 
Civil  War,  and  even  the  cavalry  punished  the  enemy  for 
the  most  part  with  bullets  from  carbines,  revolvers  and 
pistols. 

BASE  HOSPITALS. 

The  Civil  War  had  not  long  been  in  progress  when 
urgent  need  was  felt  for  hospitals  more  permanent  than 
those  in  tents.  To  meet  this  want  churches,  school- 
houses,  colleges,  hotels,  depots,  store  buildings,  ware- 
houses, private  dwellings,  and  even  sheds  and  barns  were 
utilized. 

Finally,  as  the  war  continued  and  time  brought  an 
immense  and  wholly  unlooked-for  harvest  of  sick  and 
wounded,  many  hospitals  were  built  in  eligible  localities. 
These  were,  for  the  most  part,  one-  or  two-story  frame 
structures,  constructed  on  the  pavilion  plan. 

Washington  City  and  its  environments  had  the  largest 
number  of  military  hospitals,  and  Philadelphia  came 
next.  These  ranged  in  size  from  an  officer's  hospital 
in  Beaufort,  S.  C.,  with  twenty  beds,  to  the  Satterlee  in 
Philadelphia,  with  a  capacity  of  more  than  thirty-five 
hundred  beds.  The  Satterlee,  moreover,  enjoyed  the 


254  Civil  War  Medicine. 

advantage  of  having  on  its  visiting  staff  some  of  the 
ablest  Philadelphia  physicians  and  surgeons. 

Some  of  these  base  hospitals  were  as  far  North  as  the 
City  of  Detroit,  Mich. ;  some  as  far  South  as  St.  Augus- 
tine, Fla.,  and  among  others  located  in  the  South,  the 
City  of  Memphis,  on  the  Mississippi,  had  no  less  than 
seven  commodious  structures  for  the  care  of  the  sick  and 
wounded. 

From  first  to  last  during  the  Civil  War  there  were 
more  than  two  hundred  military  hospitals  of  the  charac- 
ter above  described,  and  their  combined  bed-capacity 
aggregated  many  thousands. 

The  regimental  field  hospitals  were  the  principal 
feeders  of  the  base  hospitals.  From  their  regimental 
surgeons  the  sick  and  wounded  received  attention  till 
orders  came  to  go  on  the  march,  when,  in  ambulances, 
the  patients  would  be  conveyed  to  a  hospital  boat,  in  case 
one  was  near,  or  a  railway  train.  On  the  rivers  and 
navigable  bodies  of  water  steam  vessels  were  converted 
into  hospital  boats,  and  these  rendered  admirable  service 
in  transporting  patients.  Furthermore,  inland  railway 
trains  were  specially  fitted  up  for  the  same  purpose.  In 
many  cases,  however,  the  ordinary  box-car,  in  which  a 
quantity  of  clean  straw  or  hay  was  spread,  was  made  to 
transport  the  wounded.  After  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg, 
in  July,  1863,  fifteen  thousand  wounded  were  in  this  way 
carried  to  hospitals  in  Harrisburg,  York,  Baltimore, 
Philadelphia,  etc. 

EXCISION. 

In  four  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty-six  (4656) 
cases  the  operation  of  excision  was  performed  for  shot- 
wounds  in  the  continuity  of  the  long  bones  or  in  the  joint 


Amputations.  255 


structures.  The  mortality  was  a  little  less  than  25  per 
cent.  About  four-fifths  of  the  excisions  were  made  on 
the  upper  extremities.  In  the  earlier  part  of  the  Civil 
War  this  operation  was  quite  popular,  but  became  less 
so  in  the  last  years  of  the  struggle. 

AMPUTATIONS. 

The  total  number  of  amputations  of  arms  and  legs  was 
twenty-nine  thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty  (29,980). 
Of  these  two  hundred  and  forty-nine  (249)  were  ream- 
putations  and  three  hundred  and  five  (305)  followed  the 
operation  of  excision.  About  25  per  cent,  of  the  patients 
upon  whom  amputations  were  made  died.  There  were, 
in  all,  sixty-six  amputations  at  the  hip- joint,  and  of  these 
more  than  80  per  cent,  proved  fatal.  There  were  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-six  (866)  cases  in  which  amputations 
were  made  at  the  shoulder-joint,  and  in  these  there  was 
a  mortality  of  about  30  per  cent. 

ARTERIAL   HEMORRHAGES  AND  LIGATIONS. 

The  Civil  War  hospital  records  show  three  thousand 
two  hundred  and  forty-five  (3245)  cases  of  arterial  hem- 
orrhage, and  in  these  death  followed  in  one  thousand 
three  hundred  and  eighty  (1380)  ;  a  mortality  of  more 
than  61  per  cent. 

For  arterial  hemorrhage  following  shot-injuries  the 
operation  of  ligation  was  performed  in  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  fifty-five  (1155)  cases,  and  in  these  there 
was  a  mortality  of  a  little  more  than  59  per  cent. 

It  is  believed  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  those 
referred  to  as  "killed  in  battle"  really  "bleed  to  death." 
It  will  be  recalled  that  Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  the 


256  Civil  War  Medicine. 

famous  Confederate  General,  died  very  suddenly  from  a 
shot-wound  of  the  popliteal  artery,  received  on  the  6th 
day  of  April,  1862,  at  the  battle  of  Pittsburg  Landing. 

ANESTHETICS. 

While  it  was  not  possible  to  obtain  exact  figures,  yet 
it  was  ascertained  that  in  the  field  and  in  the  various 
military  hospitals,  anesthesia  was  produced  in  no  less 
than  eighty  thousand  (80,000)  instances.  Chloroform 
was  the  favorite  anesthetic  with  the  Civil  War  surgeon, 
principally  from  the  fact  that  it  acted  promptly  and  the 
patient  recovered  quickly  from  its  effects,  which  were 
seldom  other  than  agreeable.  It  was  the  anesthetic  used 
in  fully  75  per  cent,  of  cases.  Ether  was  used  in  about 
one  case  in  ten,  and  a  mixture  of  chloroform  and  ether 
in  one  case  in  fifteen. 

Thirty-seven  deaths  resulted  after  chloroform  inhala- 
tion and  four  followed  the  use  of  ether. 

TETANUS. 

There  were  five  hundred  and  five  (505)  cases  of 
tetanus,  a  very  small  proportion,  when  it  is  recalled  that 
two  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
twelve  (246,712)  injuries  were  inflicted  on  Union  sol- 
diers by  fire-arms.  In  other  words,  tetanus  occurred  as 
a  complication  only  about  twice  in  one  thousand  wounds. 

GANGRENE. 

During  the  Civil  War  there  were  two  thousand  six 
hundred  and  forty- two  (2642)  cases  of  gangrene  which, 
from  its  prevalence  in  hospitals,  was  called  "hospital" 


Private  J.  W.  January,  who  amputated  his  own  feet. 


Gangrene.  257 

gangrene.  Of  the  total  number  of  cases,  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  forty-two  (1142),  or  only  a  little  less 
than  half,  terminated  fatally.  Again,  of  all  the  cases  that 
occurred  during  the  Civil  War,  about  three-fifths,  or  to 
be  exact,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eleven  (1611) 
appeared  in  the  year  1864.  Nearly  90  per  cent,  of  the 
patients  stricken  had  the  disease  in  wounds  located  either 
in  the  legs  or  arms ;  nearly  twice  as  often  in  the  former 
as  in  the  latter,  however.  Only  a  little  more  than  2  per 
cent,  of  the  cases  were  found  in  wounds  of  the  head, 
neck  and  face. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  recoveries  from  gangrene 
on  record  is  that  of  Private  J.  W.  January,  Company  B, 
14th  Illinois  Cavalry,  who  was  captured  while  on  Gen- 
eral Stoneman's  raid  in  July,  1864,  and  was  confined  in 
Andersonville  for  a  time,  then  transferred  to  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  and  with  other  prisoners  purposely  placed  under 
Federal  artillery  fire.  Next,  Private  January  was  taken 
to  Florence,  S.  C.,  where  he  passed  the  winter  of  1864-5, 
and  began  an  experience  which  he  himself  can  best  re- 
late: "On  or  about  February  15,  1865,  I  was  stricken 
with  'swamp  fever/  and  for  three  weeks  I  remained  in 
a  delirious  condition ;  finally  the  fever  abated  and  reason 
returned.  I  soon  learned  from  the  surgeon,  after  a  hasty 
examination,  that  I  was  a  victim  of  scurvy  and  gangrene, 
and  was  removed  to  the  gangrene  hospital. 

"My  feet  and  ankles,  five  inches  above  the  joints,  pre- 
sented a  livid,  lifeless  appearance,  and  soon  the  flesh 
began  to  slough  off,  and  the  surgeon,  with  a  brutal  oath, 
said  I  would  die.  But  I  was  determined  to  live,  and 
begged  him  to  cut  my  feet  off,  telling  him  that  if  he 
would  I  could  live.  He  still  refused,  and  believing  that 
my  life  depended  on  the  removal  of  my  feet,  I  secured  an 

IT 


258  Civil  War  Medicine. 

old  pocket  knife  and  cut  through  the  decaying  flesh  and 
severed  tendons.  The  feet  were  unjointed,  leaving  the 
bones  protruding  without  a  covering  of  flesh  for  five 
inches.  (See  picture  taken  three  months  after  release.) 

"At  the  close  of  the  war  I  was  taken  by  the  Rebs  to 
our  lines  at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  in  April,  1865,  and,  when 
weighed,  learned  that  I  had  been  reduced'  from  165 
pounds  (my  weight  when  captured)  to  forty-five  pounds. 
Everyone  of  the  Union  surgeons  who  saw  me  then  said, 
that  I  could  not  live;  but,  contrary  to  this  belief,  I  did, 
and  improved.  Six  weeks  after  release,  while  on  a  boat 
en  route  to  New  York,  the  bones  of  my  right  limb  broke 
off  at  the  end  of  the  flesh.  Six  weeks  later,  while  in  the 
hospital  on  David's  Island,  those  of  my  left  become 
necrosed  and  broke  off  similarly.  One  year  after  my 
release  I  was  able  to  sit  up  in  bed,  and  was  discharged. 
Twelve  years  after  my  release  my  limbs  had  healed  over, 
and,  strange  to  relate,  no  amputation  had  ever  been  per- 
formed on  them  save  the  one  I  made  in  prison.  There 
is  no  record  of  any  case  in  the  world  similar  to  mine." 

It  is  only  proper  to  add  that  Private  J.  W.  January 
finally  attained  much  vigor,  married,  and  became  the 
father  of  three  children.  Later  he  removed  to  South 
Dakota,  where  he  died  a  few  years  since. 

PYEMIA. 

What  was  diagnosed  to  be  pyemia  occurred  in  two 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-seven  (2847)  cases 
following  wounds,  and  among  these  only  seventy-one 
recovered. 

MORBIDITY. 

In  the  Union  Army  the  enlisted  men  suffered  from  six 
million  twenty-nine  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-four 


Disease  Classification.  259 

(6,029,564)  disease  attacks,  a  little  less  than  three  per 
man.  And  of  these  two  hundred  and  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  (201,769)  died,  and  two  hundred 
and  eighty-five  thousand  five  hundred  and  forty-five 
(285,545)  were  discharged  from  the  service  on  account 
of  disability.  Thus  of  the  men  enlisted  in  the  Union 
armies  more  than  one  in  five  was  lost  to  the  service  by 
reason  of  disease,  and  one  in  every  eleven  was  destined 
to  die  from  a  like  cause. 

DISEASE  CLASSIFICATION. 

In  the  Civil  War  era  Dr.  Farr's  system  of  classifica- 
tion was  the  one  most  in  favor. 

Class  1,  under  this  system,  embraced  zymotic  diseases 
and  included  most  ofi  what  we  today  term  the  infectious 
maladies. 

Class  2  included  constitutional  diseases,  and  some  of 
the  individual  ailments  embraced  were  gout,  acute  and 
chronic  rheumatism,  consumption,  scrofula,  etc.  Koch's 
era-making  work  was  as  yet  nearly  twenty  years  in  the 
future,  consequently  the  infectious  nature  of  tuberculosis 
was  unknown. 

Class  3  embraced  parisitic  diseases,  as  itch,  of  which 
more  than  thirty-two  thousand  cases  were  reported ;  tape 
worm,  intestinal  worms,  etc. 

Class  4  embraced  all  local  diseases,  including  some  that 
we  today  know  to  be  infectious, 

Class  5  embraced  wounds,  accidents  and  injuries. 

DIARRHEA  AND  DYSENTERY. 

By  far  the  most  prevalent  disease  in  the  Civil  War  was 
that  embraced  under  diarrhea  and  dysentery,  and  which 


260  Civil  War  Medicine. 

gives  a  total  of  one  million  five  hundred  and  eighty-five 
thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  (1,585,196)  cases, 
about  one-fourth  of  the  total  of  disease  attacks  from  all 
causes.  Of  those  suffering  from  diarrhea  and  dysentery 
forty-four  thousand  five  hundred  and  eight  (44,508) 
died.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  bowel  diseases  were  re- 
sponsible for  considerably  more  than  one-fifth  of  the 
deaths  that  occurred  in  the  Civil  War. 

Of  those  discharged  from  the  service,  diarrhea  was 
assigned  as  the  causative  disease  in  sixteen  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eighty-five  (16,185)  cases,  and  dysentery  in 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  four  (1204),  making  a 
total  of  eighteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-five 
(18,385)  cases,  with  bowel  diseases. 

MALARIAL  FEVER. 

Next  to  bowel  diseases  malarial  fever  furnished  the 
largest  number  of  cases,  and  of  these  this  disease 
afforded  one  million  one  hundred  and  sixty-three  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fourteen  (1,163,814),  with  four 
thousand  and  fifty-nine  (4059)  deaths,  a  mortality  of 
about  one  in  one  hundred  and  forty  attacks* 

Five  types  of  malarial  fever  were  recognized,  namely, 
quotidian,  intermittent,  tertian-intermittent,  quartan-in- 
termittent, remittent  fever  and  congestive  fever.  Of  the 
intermittent  varieties  of  malarial  fever  there  were  eight 
hundred  and  sixty-three  thousand  six  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  (863,651)  cases;  of  the  remittent  type  two  hundred 
and  eighty-six  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety  (286,- 
490)  cases ;  and  of  the  congestive  form  thirteen  thousand 
six  hundred  and  seventy-three  (13,673)  cases.  In  the 
cases  diagnosed  as  simple  intermittents  there  were  nine 


Fevers.  261 

hundred  and  seventeen  (917)  deaths,  a  little  less  than 
one  in  a  thousand ;  in  the  remittents  three  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-three  (3853),  about  one  in  seventy; 
and  in  the  congestive  three  thousand1  three  hundred  and 
seventy  (3370)  fatal  cases,  or  about  one  in  four. 

As  the  discovery  of  the  plasmodium  malaria  was  yet 
many  years  in  the  future,  the  real  etiology  of  malarial 
fever  was  absolutely  unknown  in  Civil  War  days,  though 
its  best  antidote,  quinine,  was  freely  and  successfully 
used. 

TYPHO-MALARIAL  FEVER. 

In  1862  Dr.  J.  Janiver  Woodward,  an  especially  able 
man,  connected  with  the  medical  service  of  the  regular 
army,  saw  a  number  of  soldiers  suffering  with  a  form  of 
typhoid  in  which  there  seemed  to  be  pronounced  malarial 
complications,  and  to  meet  this  situation  he  coined  the 
term  typho-malarial  and  bestowed  it  upon  the  cases  with 
the  complex  symptoms  above  named.  This  hyphenated 
term  was  accepted  and  soon  became  popular.  So  pop- 
ular, in  fact,  that  forty-nine1  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-one  (49,871)  cases  of  typho-malarial  fever  were 
reported  and  tabulated,  and  of  these  four  thousand  and 
fifty-nine  (4059)  died,  thus  showing  a  mortality  of  about 
one  in  twelve. 

CONTINUED  FEVER. 

Under  the  head  of  continued  fever,  Civil  War  statis- 
ticians grouped  typhoid  fever,  typhus  fever,  common 
continued  fever  and  typho-malarial  fever  with  an  aggre- 
gate of  cases  numbering  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
thousand  six  hundred  and  thirty-eight  (139,638),  of 


262  Civil  War  Medicine, 

which  thirty-two  thousand  one  hundred  and  twelve  (32,- 
112)  terminated  fatally. 

There  were  seventy-five  thousand  three  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  (75,368)  cases  of  typhoid  fever  with  twenty- 
seven  thousand  and  fifty-six  (27,056)  deaths,  or  a  little 
more  than  one  fatal  termination  in  every  three  attacked. 
Of  typhus  fever  there  were  two  thousand  five  hundred 
and  one  (2501)  cases  reported,  with  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  (850)  deaths,  almost  precisely  one  fatal  case  in 
three. 

Cases  reported  as  continued  fever  numbered  eleven 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety-eight  (11,898),  at- 
tended with  a  fatality  of  one  hundred  and  forty-seven 
(147),  about  one  death  in  seventy-five. 

From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  typhoid  and  typhus 
fever  were  very  serious  diseases  in  the  days  of  the  Civil 
War,  while  the  cases  reported  as  simple  continued  fever 
were  in  comparison  very  mild. 

DISEASES  OF  THE  RESPIRATORY  ORGANS. 

Diseases  of  the  respiratory  organs  were  very  prevalent 
among  the  soldiers,  and  among  these  acute  bronchitis 
afforded  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  fifty  (168,750)  cases,  with  a 
mortality  of  only  six  hundred  and  eighty  (680),  or  about 
one  death  in  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  (275),  show- 
ing that  the  disease  was  certainly  very  mild.  Of  pneu- 
monia sixty-one  thousand  two  hundred  and  two  (61,202) 
cases  were  reported  with  a  mortality  of  fourteen  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  thirty-eight  (14,738),  or  more 
than  one  death  in  four. 


Fevers.  263 


There  were  reported  thirty-one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  fifty-two  (31,852)  cases  of  pleurisy  with  only  five 
hundred  and  ninety  (590)  deaths.  Doubtless  a  great 
many  cases  reported  as  pleurisy  were  neuralgic  in  char- 
acter and  wholly  unattended  with  inflammation  of  the 
plural  membrane. 

ERUPTIVE  FEVERS. 

Among  eruptive  fevers  measles  headed  the  list  with 
sixty-seven  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-three  (67,- 
763)  cases,  followed  by  four  thousand  two  hundred  and 
forty-six  (4246)  deaths,  or  a  little  less  than  one  in  six- 
teen. 

There  were  twelve  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
six  (12,236)  cases  of  smallpox  with  a  mortality  of  four 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventeen  (4717),  a  little 
more  than  one  in  three.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the 
Civil  War  smallpox,  typhoid  fever  and  typhus  fever  each 
had  about  the  same  death  rate. 

DIGESTIVE  ORGANS. 

Among  the  ailments  recorded  under  those  of  the 
digestive  organs  are  nine  thousand  six  hundred  and  three 
(9603)  cases  of  inflammation  of  the  stomach  with  four 
hundred  and  eighty-nine  (489)  deaths;  five  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  two  (5702)  cases  of  inflammation  of 
the  bowels  with  nine  hundred  and  forty  (940)  deaths; 
one  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- four  ( 1294)  cases 
of  inflammation  of  peritoneum  with  five  hundred  and 
thirty  (530)  deaths;  eleven  thousand  one  hundred  and 
twenty  (11,120)  cases  of  acute  inflammation  of  the  liver 
with  two  hundred  and  forty-two  (242)  deaths;  and  eight 


264  Civil  War  Medicine. 

thousand  two  hundred  and  sixty  (8260)  cases  of  chronic 
inflammation  of  the  liver,  with  two  hundred  and  two 
(202)  deaths. 

Thus  we  have  a  total  of  thirty-five  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  (35,961)  cases  of  inflammatory  trou- 
bles in  the  abdominal  cavity,  with  two  thousand  four 
hundred  and  four  (2404)  deaths,  or  less  than  one 
in  fifteen. 

Roughly  speaking,  of  the  total  of  disease  attacks  from 
which  Civil  War  soldiers  suffered  about  one  in  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  (170)  was  from  inflammation  of  the 
liver,  stomach,  bowels  or  peritoneum,  And  from  the 
same  trouble  resulted  about  one  death  in  eighty  (80)  of 
the  grand  total  of  fatalities. 

RHEUMATISM. 

One  hundred  and  forty-five  thousand  five  hundred  and 
fifty-one  (145,551)  cases  of  rheumatism  were  reported 
with  only  two  hundred  and  eighty-three  (283)  deaths,  or 
about  one  in  five  hundred.  Of  chronic  rheumatism  there 
were  one  hundred  and  nine  thousand  one  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  (109,187)  cases,  with  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  (192)  deaths,  or  about  one  in  six  hundred. 

TUBERCULOSIS. 

Thirteen  thousand  four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  (13,- 
499)  cases  of  pulmonary  (?)  consumption  were  tabu- 
lated, with  five  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty-six 
(5386)  deaths.  These  figures  show  a  mortality  of  only 
about  40  per  cent.  However,  the  remaining  eight  thou- 
sand one  hundred  and  thirteen  (8113)  cases  were  doubt- 
less discharged  on  surgeon's  certificate,  and  most  of  them 


Enthetic  Diseases.  265 

reached  home,  in  all  probability,  to  die  later  from  their 
disabilities. 

ENTHETIC  DISEASES. 

Enthetic  diseases  constituted  a  suborder  of  the  zymotic 
class  of  ailments.  The  word  enthetic  pertains  to  a  dis- 
ease originating  from  some  cause  without  the  body,  and 
this  order  included  syphilis,  gonorrhea,  stricture  of  the 
urethra,  purulent  ophthalmia  and  serpent  bites. 

One  thousand  and  twenty-five  (1025)  cases  of  syphilis 
were  reported,  with  thirteen  deaths;  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  twenty-three  (1723)  cases  of  gonorrhea, 
with  one  death. 

Among  white  troops  there  were  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  (144)  cases  of  homicide;  three  hundred  and 
one  (301)  suicides,  and  one  hundred  and  four  (104) 
executions. 


INDEX. 


Accidental  deaths,  133 

wounds,  55,  73,  133 
Accoutrements,  52 
Activity,  best  for  soldiers,  154 
Administration    of    medicines, 
130 

Lincoln's,   13,   14,   17,  21,  23, 
24,  25,  32,  33,  34,  35,  141, 
202,  203 
Adventure,  a  remarkable,   113, 

114 

African  slave-traders,  237 
Africans,  native,  237 
Ague,  44,  45 

Alabama,  11,  210,  211,  233,  246, 
248 

army  of,  237 

River,  226 

secession  of,   11 
Algiers,  La.,  144,  156,  168 
Alligators,  75,  239,  240 
Alton,  111.,  42 
Ambulance,    69,    98,    104,    133, 

134 

Ammunition,  explosion  of,  241 
Amputations,  255 
Anderson,  Gen.  Robert,  12,  13 
"Andy  over"  in  battle,  217 
Anesthetics,  258 
Anglo-Saxon,  121,  122 
Ann  Arbor,  188 
Antietam,  39 
Antisepsis,    lack    of,     10,    105, 

122,  131 
Appendix,  250 
Appetite,  a  soldier's,  57,  74, 

147,  163 

Arkansas,  52,  63 
Army,  Confederate,  223,  224 

enlistment  in,  31,  32 

of  Gulf,  176,  210 

of  Tennessee,  82,  115 


Army  organization,  70 
Arterial  hemorrhage,  205,  206 
Asepsis,  want  of,  104,  105,  121 

127,  131 

Assassination,  Lincoln's,  228 
Assault,  a  deadly,  102 

by  colored  troops,  222,  223 
Atchafalaya  River,  203 
Auburn,  Miss.,  92 
Aunt  Tilda,  190,  196 

Banks,  Gen.  N.  P.,  90,  108,  176, 

177,  201 

young,  a  victim,  103,  146 
Barry,  Dr.,  125 
Base  hospitals,  253,  254 
Baton  Rouge,  La.,  183 
Battery,  70,  82 
Battle,  our  first,  76,  87 
Bayou  Pierre,  56,  78,  84 
Bayou,  Teche,  162,  168 
Beauregard,  Gen.,  28 

(gunboat),  63 
Bedbugs,  247,  248 
"Bedfellows,     unwelcome,     247, 

248 

Beehive,  a  soldier's,  181 
Belleville,  111.,  36,  40,  41,  42 
Benton,  72 

Gen.,  208,  216 
Berwick  Bay,  168 
Big    Black    River,    91,   95,   96, 

108,  112 

Black  River  Bridge,  94,  95,  96 
Blair,  Gen.  Frank  P.,  92 
Blockade,    Vicksburg,    72,    73, 

121,  122 

Body  lice,  165,  166 
Bolus,  a  bitter,  44,  45 
Bond  County,  12,  15,  20,  35,  39, 

40 

(267) 


268 


Index. 


Bonheur,  Rosa,  122 
Books,  medical,  128 
Bowie,  Dr.,  75 
residence,  75 
Bragg,  Gen.,  59,  64,  65 
Brainard,  Dr.  Daniel,  126 
Brasher  City,  146,  147,  156,  168 
"Brave  Boys,"  39,  218 
Breakfast,  a  tempting,  51 
Breckenridge,    Gen.    John    C., 

185 

Brigade,  70 
Brooklyn,  120 
Bruinsburg,  Miss.,  77,  139 
Buchanan,  Commodore,  Frank, 

77,  212 
Buchanan,     Commodore,     Mc- 

Kean,  149 
Buell,  Gen.,  22,  27 
Bull  Run,  Battle  of,  17,  20,  23 
Bullet  in  brain,  99,  103,  131 

132 

Bullet  wounds,  133 
Bullets,  Civil  War,  252,  253 
Burial  of  the  dead,  60,  107,  111 

of  a  soldier,  163 
Burnside,  Gen.,  59 

Cairo,  175,  181,  187,  245 
a  soldier's  beehive,  181 
Calhoun,  149 

Camp  Butler,  42,  53,  245,  246 
Camp  Jackson,  19 
Canby,  Gen.  E.  R.  S.,  210,  230, 

237 

Cannonading,  heavy,  20,  76 
Capital,  State,  40,  41 
Captain,    a    dead,    Texas,   220, 

221 

Capture  of  Camp  Jackson,  19 
Captured,  my  friends,  167,  168, 

169 

Cards  and  cards,  64,  65 
Carlyle,  111.,  41,  247 
Carondolet,  72 
Carr,  Gen.,  93 
Carrollton,  La.,  143 
Carthage,  New,  72,  73,  76,  122 
Cavalry,  Mexican,  203 
Caves  at  Vicksburg,  110 


Celebration,  July  4,  1861,  33 

Centralia,  111.,  175 

Champion   Hill,   Battle  of,  92, 

93,  94,  96,  100 

Chancellorsville,  Battle  of,  92 
Character  of  missiles,  252,  253 

of  volunteers,  35 
Chess,  186,  187 

Chicago  merchantile  battery,  82 
Chicamauga,  34 
"Chuck-a-luck,"  198 
Church,  Episcopal,  63,  64 
Christmas  dinner,  171 
Civil  War  medicine,  250,  265 
Civilization,   175 
Classification  of  disease,  219 
Clergyman,  an  eloquent,  33,  34 
Clothing,  49,  198 
Coercion,  12,  27 
Coffee,  74,  76,  84,  214 

-pot,  extemporized,  147 
Colby,  Capt  Wm.  H.,  103,  102, 

176 
Cook,  our  hospital,  133,  138 

170,  171 
Cooking,    Civil    War,    46,    47, 

136,  137,  147,  214,  234 
Cooks,  amateur,  46,  47 
Colored  troops,  141,  152 
Columbiads,  110,  18 
Comrade,  a  sick,  58 
Confederacy,  32,  85,   120,   140, 

209,  222 
Confederate,  a  fallen,  94 

a  thrifty,  109,  110 

a  willing  captive,  85 

an  enthusiastic,  86,  87 

dead,  109,  110,  220,  221 

doctors,  177 

first  one  encountered,  81 

money,  109,  110 
Confederates,  53,  78,  79,  93,  96, 
108,  109,  110,  182,  185, 
201,  202,  203,  205,  209, 
212,  213,  217,  218,  219, 
220,  221,  222,  226,  228, 
230,  231,  237 

Confederates,  embryo,  19,  21 
Congress,  149 

a  patriotic,  17 


Index. 


269 


Consumption,  61,  264,  265 
Contortions,  unsightly,  99 
Copperhead,  32 
Corduroy  roads,  216 
Corps,  army,  70,  242 
Corps  d'Afrique,  152 
Cotton,   146,   149 

Vicksburg,  113 
Countersign,  49 
Country,  living  off  the,  87,  88 
Court    House,    Greenville,    36, 

39,  40,  41 
"Cracker-line,"  101 
Creoles,  Louisiana,  149 
Currency,  national,  24,  149 

State,  24 

Dashed  from  my  lips,  204 
Dauphin  Island,  212 
Davis,  Commodore,  54 

Dr.  N.  S.,  126 

Jefferson,  223 
Death,  a  needless,  105,  106 

mysterious,  246 

sudden,  53 

Deaths  in  hospital,  60,  61 
De  Crow's  Point,  Texas,   156, 

168,  169 

De  Shroon's  plantation,  40,  76 
Delaware,  14 
Democrats  and  the  Civil  War, 

201,  203 

Departure  from  home,  40 
Desparation,  Southern,  223,  224 
Diarrhea,  camp,   160,  166,  259, 
260 

principal  causes  of,  46,  47 

treatment  of,  162 
Diet,  an  invalid's,  175 

sick,  150 

Discouragement,  59,  140 
Disease  classification,  259 
Diseases,   of  digestive  organs, 
262,  263 

enthetic,  265 

of    respiratory    organs,    262, 
263 

prevalent,  155,  166 
Division,  our,  67,  70 

hospital,  97,  112 


Division,  Hovey's,  93 

boring's,  235 
Doctors,  Confederate,  179,  257 

Federal,  81,  123,  126,  177,  258 
"Dog"  tents,  203,  204 
Donnell,  Capt.  Denny,  178 
Douglas,   Senator   Stephen  A., 

29 

Dramatic,  136 
Dress  parade,  55,  207 
Drilling,  51,  52 
Drinking-water,  169 
Drugs,  97,  129,  130 
"Dusky"  typhoid,  157 
Duties,  49,  50,  57,  228 

medical,  58,  206 
"Dysenteric-diarrhea,"   162 
Dysentery,  162,  163,  259,  260 

"Eagle  Regiment,"  91,  92 
Edwards  Station,  Miss.,  92,  94 
Ellet,  Col.  Chas.,  115 

Col.  John  A.,  120 
Eloquent  clergyman,  33,  34 
Emory,  General,  146,  149 
Enemy,  an  old,  180 

first    night    in    his    country, 
198,  200 

the,  and  mulberries,  230 
"Enemy,  the,"  217,  218,  235 
Enlistment  of  the  author,  30, 

32 

Erysipelas,  60 

Evangeline's  country,  145,  156 
Execution,  a  military,  143,  144 
Expert  mechanics,  150 

horsemen,  203 
Explosion  of  ammunition, 

of  steamboat,  142,  143 

Farragut,      Commodore,      120, 

185,  202,  212,  213 
Federal  Union,  11,  68 
Federals,   79,   83,   96,   97,    185, 

212,  216,  219,  225,  257 
Fever,  continued,  261,  262 
malarial,  260 
typhoid,    62,    137,    138,    139, 

261,  262 
typhomalarial,  261 


270 


Index. 


Fevers,  eruptive,  262 

Fire,  our  "first  baptism"  of,  82 

Firewood,  expensive,  147 

First  battle,  78 

"First  blood,"  81 

Flag,  Pocahontas,  37,  38 

presentation  of,  36,  37 

of  45th  111.,  113 

Regimental,   38 
Flint,  Dr.  Austin,  126 
Foeman,  a  single,  182 
Food,  46,  47,  87,  88,  137,  149 
Foraging,  87,  88,  89,  149 
"Forbidden  fruit,"  171 
Forest  Queen,  72 
Fort  Bisland,  145,  146 

Blakely,  218,  219 

Donelson,  21,  22,  23,  24,  26, 
250 

Gaines,  212 

Henry,  23,  26 

Huger,  225 

Morgan,  211,  212,  213 

Moultrie,  12 

Pickering,  56,  57 

Pillow,  54,  223 

Tracy,  225 

Fourth  Michigan  Cavalry,  239 
Frank  Leslies,  188 
Franklin,  La.,  149 
Fredericksburg,  59 
Freemont,  Gen.,  18,  43,  201,  202 
French  people,  149 
Frost,  Gen.,  19 
Furlough  home,  172 

"Game"  to  the  last,  225,  226 

Gangrene,  256,  257,  258 

"Garden-sass,"  187 

Garlic,  42 

Germans,  42 

General,  a  swearing,  62,  82,  83 

Georgia,  secession  of,   11,  209, 

239 

"Gibraltar  of  the  West,"  66 
Gold,  24 
Grand  Gulf,  Miss.,  76,  78,  84, 

87 
Granger,  Gen.  Gordon,  213 


Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  13,  21,  22,  27, 
64,  67,  82,  83,  87,  108, 
115,  139,  140,  143,  201, 
221 

an  original  story  of,  68 
first  seen,  67 

Green,  Miss  Sarah,  37 

Greenbacks,  24 

Greenville,  111.,  33,  35,  36,  37, 
39,  40,  175,  184,  249 

Gross,  Dr.  S.  D.,  126 

Grover,  General,  146 

Guard  duty,  49,  50,  57,  228,  238, 
239 

Gulf,  Army  of,  176 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  168,  210 

Gunboat,  "dummy,"  119,  120 

Gunboats,  26,  67,  72 

Gunn,  Dr.  Moses,  126 

Haines'  Bluff,  78 
Halleck,  Gen.,  27 
Hampton  Roads,  26 
Hard  times  landing,  76 
"Hard-tack,"  74,  147,  214 
Harper's  Monthly,  188 

Weekly,  28,  188 
Hemorrhage,  255,  256 
Henry  Clay,  72 
Henry,  Samuel,  208,  209 
Herald,  188 
Herring  and   seasickness,  -210, 

211 

Hiawatha,  73 
"High-old-times,"  174 
Hodgen,  Dr.  John  T.,  126,  180 
"Hoe-cake,"  220,  227,  234 
"Hog,"  with  hair  on,  234 
Holidays,  171 
Holly  Springs,  Miss.,  64 
Holmes,  General,  71 
Holmes'  plantation,  71 
"Home  Again,"  183 
Home,  President  Lincoln's,  43 

on   furlough,   172 
Hood,  Gen.  J.  B.,  95,  210 
Hooker,  Gen.  Joe,  92 
Hopedale,  Ark.,  63 
Hospital  boat,  70 

cook,  135,  138 


Index. 


271 


Hospital  corps,  112 

divison,  97,  112 

in  a  church,  150 

in  field,  69,  77,  89,  129,  144, 
150,  177 

R.  R.  trains,  254 

regimental   at   Memphis,   60, 
65 

service,  my  first,  58,  134 

steward,  206,  243 
Hospitals,  base,  253,  254 
Hovey,  General,  93 
Hovey's  division,  93 
Human  life  cheap,  142 
Hunt,    Lawrentia,    a   comrade, 

186,   187 

Hurlburt,  Gen.  Stephen  A.,  35 
Hynes,  Rev.  T.  W.,  33,  34 

Illinois,  13,  20,  34,  121,  172,  184, 
202,  205,  206,  207,  208, 
209 

"Ilinoistown,"  248 

Illusion,  an,  240 

Indiana,  34 

Indianola,  117,  119 

Infection,  104,  105,  127,  131 

Injustice,  an,  206 

Instruments,  surgical,  97,  130, 
131 

Invalid,  I  become  an,  167 

Invalidism,  tedious,  178 

Iowa,  94,  202 

Irwinsville,  Ga.,  239 

Island  No.  10,  10,  26 

Ives,  Lieut.  Charles,  158 

Jackson,  camp,  capture  of,  18 

General   Andrew,   statue   of, 
63 

Governor  Claiborn  F.,  14 

Miss.,  90,  96,  112 
January,  D.  A.,  70 
Jimps,  Jabez,  195 
Johnny's  rations,  220 
Johnson,  Captain  W.  H.,  83,  84 

Charles,  34 

Johnston,  Gen.  Joe  E.,  90,  91, 
107,  112,  201,  236,  242 


Joke,  good  one  on  a  comrade, 

79,  80 
"Jones,"    a    newsy    character, 

25 

Joy  of  meeting  comrades,  183 
July  4,  1861,  33 

Kansas,  34 

Kennard,    Major    George    W., 

121 

Kennedy,  Mr.,  232 
Kentucky,  14 
Knapsack,  medical,  130,  131 

"Lady"  Beauregard,  96 

Davis,  96 

Price,  96 
Lake  Port,  La.,  205 

Ponchartrain,  205 

St.  Joseph,  La.,  74,  75 
Lafayette,  72 
Lancaster,  120 
Lawler,  Gen.,  95 
Lecture,  I  receive  a,  79 
Lee,   Gen.,   201,  210,  221,   227, 

236,  242 

"Legal-tender,"  24 
"Letter  under  fire,"  216,  217 
Letters,  Confederate,  216,  217, 

231,  235 

Life,  active,  best  for  soldiers, 
154 

human,  cheap,  142 
Lincoln,   Pres.,    13,   14,   17,  21, 
23,  24,  ,25,  32,  33,  34,  35, 
141,  202,  203 

Lincoln's    Emancipation   Proc- 
lamation, 87,  195 
Lister,  Dr.  Joseph,  127 
"Little  Mac,"  23 
Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  35,  82,  83 
Louisiana,  237,  246,  248 

Creoles,   148 

secession  of,  11 
Louisville,  72 
Lyons,  General,  18,  19 

Macintosh  Bluff,  228 
Maggots,  105 
Magoffin,  Governor,  14 


272 


Index. 


Mail  in  war-time,  11,  12,  231, 
235 

Mailbag,  Confederate,  231,  235 

Malingering,  154 

Mansfield,   La.,   176,    177,    178, 

184 

"March  to  the  Sea,"  the,  209 
Matagorda  Bay,  160,  170 
Matron,  our  hospital,  61,  62 
Mattress  of  cane,  107 
McBurney's  Point,  45 
McCauly,  James  A.,  232,  233 
McClellan,    Gen.   Geo.    B.,    23, 

29,  39,  201,  202,  203 
McClernand,  Gen.  J.  A.,  27,  82, 

83,  98,  112 
McPherson,  Gen.  J.  B.,  63,  90, 

91,  98 

Measles,  59,  160 
Mechanics  in  regiment,  150 
Medical  books,  128 

knapsack,  130,  131 

studies,  142,  243 
Medicine,  the  wrong,  170,  171 
Medicines,  97,  129,   130 
Memphis,  naval  battle  of,  54 

Tenn.,   52,   65,   70,    125,    135, 

158,  160,  182 
Merrimac,  149 

Messmate,  a  worthy,  208,  209 
Michigan  University,  124 
Miles,  J.  W.,  38 
Mill  Spring,  battle  of,  21 
Miller,  James  M.,  127 
Milliken's  Bend,  La.,  66,  67,  121 
Milk,  bitter,  89 
Minnie  balls,  131,  132 
Mississippi,  77,  143,  246 

flotilla,  115 

River,  42,  52,  53,  76,  77,  146, 
147,  148,  246 

secession  of,  11 
Missiles,  character  of,  252,  253 
Missing,  246 
Missouri,  14 

medical  college,  123 

war  in,  18 

Mobile,  210,  213,  216,  225,  226, 
227,  229,  230,  232,  233, 
241 


Mobile  Bay,  213,  225 

Point,  211,  212 
Moderator,  150 
Money,  Confederate,  109,  110 

hard,  24 

paper,  24 

Monitor  and  Merrimac,  26,  27 
Morbidity,  258,  259 
Morganza  Bend,  La.,   187 
Mott,  Dr.  Valentine,  126 
Moultrie,  Fort,  12 
Mound  City,  72 
Mouth  open  opportunely,  222, 

223 

Murfresboro,  battle  of,  59 
Music,  old-time,  15 
Musket,     Austrian    rifled,    52, 
131,  132,  207 

Enfield,  131,  132,  207 

Springfield,  131,  132,  207,  252 
Mussey,  Dr.  Reuben  D,,  126 

Natches,  Miss.,  115 

Navy,  Confederate,  230,  237 

Federal,  76 
"Negro-Bill,"  223 
Negroes,  141,  152,  182,  223,  224 
New  Iberia,  La.,  146,  155,  172 
New  Orleans,  143,  152,  155,  156, 
172,    173,    185,   205,  209, 
210,  211 

New  words,  a  swarm  of,  27 
News,  sad,  61 

war,  12,  176,  178 
Night,  after  battle,  84,  85 
Niles,  Colonel  Nathaniel,  189 
Nixon,  Mrs.  Victoria,  235 

Officers,  commissioned,  126 
field,  123 

in  colored  regiments,  141,  152 
line,  123 

non-commissioned,  126 
staff,  123 
Ohio,  35,  105,  202 

army  of,  22 
"Old  Glory,"  38 
One     hundred     and     thirtieth 
Illinois,  37,  51,  76,  77,  80, 
83,  95,  157,  205,  209,  242, 
247 


Inde^. 


273 


Orders,  marching,  73 
Organization,  army,  70 
Osterhaus,  General,  93 
Our  first  battle,  76,  87 

mess,  56 

regiment,  51,   52,  55,  66,  67, 
80,  83,  157,  205,  209 

Parting  with  friends,  40 

Pasteur,  127 

Patriotic  clergyman,  a,  33,  34 

Patriots,  young,  35 

Patrol  duty,  57 

Pattersonville,  La.,  145 

Paymaster,  the,  197 

"Peace  men,"  202 

Pemberton,  Gen.,  76,  139,  140 

Philosophy,  Aunt  Tilda's,  196 

Picket  duty,  first,  52 

Picknicking  by  the   other  fel- 
low, 51 

Pierce,  Rev.  W.  G.,  68 

Pittsburg    Landing,    battle    of, 
23,  27 

Pluck,  Southern,  220 

Pocahontas,  111.,  11,  30,  31,  37, 
38 

Pope,  Gen.  John,  26,  27,  39 

Pork,  toasted,  74 
with  hair  on,  234 

Port  Gibson,  78,  79,  84,  86,  87, 

222 
battle  of,  78,  84,  96 

Port  Hudson,  90,  115,  119 

Porter,  Commodore,  119,  120 

Potomac,  army  of,  23 

Prevalent  diseases,  155,  166 

Prisoners,  21,  109,  110,  219 

Pritchard,  Colonel,  239 

Procession,  a  dreary,  70 

Pyemia,  258 

Quarles'  Brigade,  232 
Quartermaster,  53,  126 
Queen  of  the  West,  115,  120 

Railway,  a  dilapidated,  205 
Wabash,  trip  on,  48,  49 
Ralph.   Thomas,   133,   138,   170, 
'171,  187 


18 


Ransom,  Gen.,  T.  E.  G.,  177 
'"Rastus,"  195 
Rations,  47,  198,  214 
Rations,  Johnny's,  220 
Rawlins,  Gen.,  68 
Raymond,  Miss.,  92 

battle  of,  91,  96 
Reading  matter,   188,  189 
"Rebellion,  the  great,"  14,  144, 

178,  207 

Red  River,  176-177 
Reflections,  a  night's,  84,  85 
Refugees,  Union,  20 
Regiment,    composition    of    a, 

123 
our,  51,  52,  55,  66,  67,  80,  83, 

157,  205,  209 

Regiments,  some  new,  48,  50 
Reid,  Colonel  John  B.,  37,  184 
Remarkable  experience,  a,  113, 

114,  208,  209 
Rendezvous  at  Greenville,  111., 

35   44 

Belleville,  111.,  41,  42 
Report,  a  serious,  143 
of  Captain  George  W.  Ken- 

nard,  121,  122 
Resection,  99,  254,  255 
Restored,  242,  243 
Retrospect,  a,  243 
Rheumatism,  264 
Richmond,    Va.,    29,   226,    227, 

231,  237 
La.,  71 

Ride,  a  lonesome,  155 
River,     the     (see     Mississippi 

River) . 
Roads,  bad,  74,  215,  216 

corduroy,  215,  216 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  174 
Rosa  Bonheur,  123 
Rosecrans,  Gen.,  59 
Rouse,  Captain,  207,  208 
"Running"  the  blockade,  72,  73, 

115,  122 

Sailors,  67 

Sand  underfoot,  213,  214,  215 
Sanitary  commission,  188 
"Saviour,"  141 


274 


Index. 


"Scared,"  182 
School,  last  days  in,  12 
Scott,  Gen.  Winfield,  14,  35 
Seasick,  156,  210,  211 
Secession,  11,  27 
Seven  days'  battle,  29 
Seventy-seventh      Illinois,     68, 
205,    206,    207,    208,   209, 
242,  243 

Sharp  shooters,  83 
Shelby's,  190,  195 
"Shell,  an  empty,"  209 
Shell  wounds,  133 
Shenandoah  Valley,  202 
Sheridan,  Gen.,  202 
Sheridan,  Gen.  P.  H.,  237 
Sherman,  Gen.  Wm.  T.,  57,  66, 
90,  98,  101,  202,  209,  234, 
236 

Shiloh,  battle  of,  22,  27 
Shoeless,  172,  173 
"Showed  fight,"  221,  222 
Shreveport,  La.,  177,  237 
Sibley  tent,  a,  56 
"Sick-call,"  153 
Sickness,  47,  58,  59,  60,  61,  62 
Siegel,  Gen.  Franz,  18 
Sigler,  Dr.  Wm.  R,  125 
Silier,  24 
Silver  wave,  72 
"Six  hundred  thousand  more," 

29,  31,  35 
Slave  States,  14,  15 

-traders,  African,  237 
Slavery,  32,  91,  95,  224,  237 
Sleep,  too  tired  for,  74 

the  sweetest,  74 
Smith,  Gen.  E.  Kirby,  237 

Gen.  A.  J.,  70,  91 

Miss  Mollie,  37 
Smith's   plantation,    73 
Soldier,  a  serious,  40 

dies  on  boat,  53 

disappears  mysteriously,  245 

executed,  143 

experts,  150 

life  at  Camp  Butler,  43,  52 

wounded  accidentally,  55,  73 
Soldiers,  become  officers,  206 

colored,  141,  152 


Soldiers  first  seen,  20 
Soldiers'  health,  125 
Soldiers'  meetings,  68 

soliloquy,   a,  85 
Some    captured    Confederates, 

153 

Some  stray  shots,  203 
South  Carolina,  secession  of, 

11,  12,  18 

South  Mountain,  battle  of,  39 
Southern  desperation,  223,  224 

hospitality,  228,  229 

pluck,  220 

Republic,  237,  238 

sympathisers,  18 
Southerners  in  earnest,  17 

in  the  Northland,  34,  35 
Spanish  Fort,  216,  219,  225,  233 
Spectators,  many,  54 
Spring,  approach  of,  63 
Springfield,  111.,  40,  41 

musket,  206,  207 
Spurr,  J.  W.,  113,  114 
Staff,  commissioned,  126 

non-commissioned,  126 
Standard,  188 
Star  of  the  West,  119 
State  capital,  order  from,  40 
States,  free,  14 

slave,   14 
Steamboat  burned,  187 

death  on,  53 

explosion,  142,  143 

"on  wheels,"  149 
Steamboats,  protected,  73,  182, 
183 

loaded  with  soldiers,  57,  58 
Steele,  Gen.  Francis,  218,  225 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  20,  42,  52,  92, 

136,  173,  182 
"Stray  shots,"   123 
Street,  Harlow,  58,  158 
Stronghold,  a  Confederate,  96, 

109 

Sugar-mills,  148 
Sunday,   a   never-to-be-forgot- 
ten, 219 

"Sunny  South,"  75 
Supplies,  Confederate,  115 


Index. 


275 


Surgeon,   First  Assistant,   123, 

126,  131 

Major,  44,  123,  126 
Second  Assistant,  123,  126 
Surgery,  Civil  War, 
"Survival  of  the  fittest,"  60 
Sutler,  170,  171,  198,  200 
Swearing,  and  swearing,  68,  82, 

83 

Swett,  our  "landlord,"  107 
Swett's  plantation,  97,  107 
Switzerland,   120 
Sword  of  Damocles,  179 
Sword  wounds,  133 

Tarrand,  Commodore,  237 
Tavern,  at  the  village,  36 
Taylor,  Gen.  Richard,  146,  230, 

236 
Teche   Country,   145,   156,   162, 

163 

Tecumseh,  212 
Tedious  invalidism,  178 
"Tenderfoot"  a,  213,  214,  215 

financial,  198,  200 
Tennessee,  53,  66,  212,  228,  246 
army  of,   113 
department  of,  141 
Tensaw  River,  225 
Tetanus,  256 

Teuton  drill-master,  51,  52 
Texas,  113,  156,  168,  169,  194 
secession  of,  11,  156,  168,  237, 

246 

Thanksgiving,  155 
Thieves,  victim  of,  79,  172,  173 
Thirteenth    Corps,    70,   76,   82, 

90,   91,   94,   96,   98,    155, 

213,  226 

Thirteenth     Corps    and    Hos- 
pital, 112 
Thomas,    Gen.    Geo.    H.,    209, 

210 

Thrill,  a,  245 

Time  that  tried  men's  souls,  59 
Tombigbee  River,  228,  230 
Torpedoes,  212,  219 
Transports  (see  Steamboats). 
Troops,  call   for  600,000,  29 
colored,  141,  152,  222 


Troops,     colored,     assault    by, 
222,  223 

first  call   for,   13 

new,  48,  50 
Truce,  111 

Tuberculosis,  61,  264,  265 
Turpentine  emulsion,  159 

orchards,  215 

Twentieth  Illinois,  121,  122 
Typhoid    fever,    62,    137,    138, 
139,  244,  245 

"Unconditional     Surrender 

Grant,"  150 

Uniforms,  first,  49,  52    *, 
Unusual  cases,  251,  252 
"Ups  and  Downs,"  242,  243 

Vandal,  a,  63 
Vandalia,  111.,  175,  181 
Van  Dora,  54 

Gen.  Earl,  227,  228 
Vermillion  Bayou,  150,  152 
Vicksburg,   34,   57,   58,   59,  64, 
84,  86,  89 

campaign,  review  of,  139 

ordered  to  vicinity  of,  66 

siege  of,  96,  109 

surrender  of,  109 
Victoria  Nixon,  Mrs.,  235 
Visitors,  Northern,  113 
Volumes,  some  stray,  188,  189 
Volunteers,  character  of,  35 
Vote,  not  allowed  to,  202 

War,  Civil,  breaking  out  of,  13 
War  Democrats,  20,  33 

news,  12,  176,  178 

progress  of,  17,  30 
War's  harvest,  16,  191,  193 
Warrenton,  Miss.,  101 
Watts,  Governor,  234 
Webb,  117,  118,  119,  121 
Webster,  Daniel,  11,  171 
Weitsel,  Gen.,  145,  146,  149 
Welcome  home,  245,  246 
Whistle,  a  long  one,  53 
Whistler,  226 
White  River,  203 

Miss  Lucy,  30 


276 


Index. 


White,  Samuel,  163 

Wife,  a  soldier's,  163,  178,  179 

Wilcox,  Dr.  L.  K.,  123 

"Wildcat"  money,  24 

Wilkins,  Dr.  David,  82,  124 

Williams,  Gen.,  185 

Wilson's  Creek,  battle  of,  20 

Wisconsin,  91,  92,  202 

Womanhood,  61,  62 

Wood,  Dr.  George  B.,  126,  159 

Wood,  young,  victim  of  ty- 
phoid, 158 

Woodward,  Dr.  J.  Janvier,  160, 
161 

Wounds,  98,  106,  150,  151,  250, 
253 


Wounds,  accidental,  55,  73,  133 
bayonet,  133 
peculiar,  99,  105,  106 
shell,  133 
sword,  133 
treatment  of,  104,  105 

"Yankee,"  a  shrewd,  208,  209 
Yazoo  River,  101,  106,  161 
"You  All,"  233 

Zeigler,  Dr.,  177 
Zollicoffer,  Gen.,  21 
Zouave  drill,  207,  208 


